The week in pharma: action, reaction and insight – week to December 2, 2022

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell. Editor

Important regulatory news last week included US rare diseases specialist Sarepta Therapeutics last Monday revealing that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for priority review its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) candidate SRP-9001. On the M&A front, UK pharma major AstraZeneca last Tuesday announced it is to acquire Dutch biotech firm Neogene Therapeutics to help accelerate its advance into oncology cell therapy. Also, Switzerland-based Roivant Sciences has established a new “Vant” company in partnership with Pfizer, to develop the US pharma giant’s ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease candidate RVT-3101. Clinical trial news included Eisai and Biogen last Wednesday releasing much awaited new data on their Alzheimer’s disease candidate lecanemab that attracted a lot of attention.

Sarepta’s SRP-9001 accepted for accelerated FDA approval