The UK’s new 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access, and growth (VPAG) came into force at the beginning of January this year. 4 October 2024
GigaGen has been awarded a contract by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 4 October 2024
Oxford, UK-based Enara Bio today announces the closing of a $32.5 million Series B financing supported by a strong syndicate of new and existing biotech investors. 3 October 2024
French drugmaker Mitem Pharmavhas the worldwide acquisition of Desferal (deferoxamine), a major MITM in hematology, from Swiss giant Novartis. 25 September 2024
The Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) is further expanding its focus on life sciences by opening an institute for biomedical artificial intelligence (AI) based on a 150 million euros ($166.8 million) funding from the German non-profit Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation (BIS). 18 September 2024
Zenas BioPharma announced the pricing of its upsized initial public offering of 13,235,294 shares of its common stock at an initial public offering price of $17.00 per share. 13 September 2024
US pharma major Eli Lilly and Egyptian firm EVA Pharma have entered into an agreement to expand access to Olumiant (baricitinib) to an estimated 20,000 people in 49 low- to middle-income countries in Africa by 2030. 6 September 2024
Novartis is building two new radioligand therapy (RLT) manufacturing facilities in the USA to enhance its supply chain for cancer treatments. This move supports the growing use of RLTs, a form of precision medicine that targets tumors with radiation. 6 September 2024
Belgium’s largest drugmaker UCB announced a strategic divestment deal in China, underscoring its strategic shift towards innovation and partnership in one of the world’s fastest-growing pharmaceutical markets. 27 August 2024
The UK’s largest pharma company AstraZeneca has rejected claims that it is moving its vaccine operations to the USA, according to media reports. 23 August 2024
Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma announced the termination of its exclusive sales rights agreements with AnGes for the HGF gene therapy product, Collategene (beperminogene perplasmid) intramuscular injection targeting peripheral arterial diseases in Japan and the USA. 23 August 2024
UK pharma major AstraZeneca has become the only current UK-lis¬ted company to reach a £200 billion ($256.4 billion) valuation, the Financial Times reported today, noting that it is a vindication of the company’s bet on developing a leading portfolio of cancer drugs. 14 August 2024
Japan’s Eisai and US biotech Biogen today revealed that the Ministry of Health and Prevention in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has approved Leqembi (lecanemab) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). 14 August 2024
US pharma giant Pfizer has announced the publication of real-world results from a cohort of the longitudinal, observational Phase IV THAOS (Transthyretin Amyloidosis Outcomes Survey) study in the Journal of Cardiac Failure. 8 August 2024
Japanese drugmaker Shionogi says that its New Drug Application (NDA) for cefiderocol has been accepted for review by the Center for Drug Evaluation, National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). 5 August 2024
Germany’s Bayer has submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration for approval to market elinzanetant for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS), commonly known as hot flashes, associated with menopause. 2 August 2024
A lot of topics were discussed at the 2023 China innovative medicine (device) medical conference (CMAC) held in Suzhou on April 7. Among them were real world studies, medical affairs and how to use AI to speed up discoveries. But one most talked about was the challenges for Chinese biotechs to go global. 13 April 2023
Sino-American biotech BeiGene today announced the first major step in the company’s expansion in Latin America (LATAM) with the formal opening of its office in São Paulo, Brazil. 13 April 2023
New York-based Tiziana Life Sciences, a biotech company developing breakthrough immunomodulation therapies via novel routes of drug delivery, has revealed plans to investigate intranasal foralumab for the treatment of long COVID. 13 April 2023
A draft evidence report from Boston, USA-based watchdog The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) suggests a cost-effective price of up to $1.9 million for new sickle cell disease (SCD) therapies. 13 April 2023
Data from UCB’s Phase III studies of rozanolixizumab and zilucoplan in generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) have been published in The Lancet Neurology. 13 April 2023
The US Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) has signed onto an amicus brief to challenge a District Court’s unprecedented ruling (related to the ‘morning after’ abortion pill mifepristone (marketed under the trade name Mifeprex) that would create regulatory barriers and potentially upend the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authority to approve life-saving and life-enhancing therapies to patients. 13 April 2023
US medicines cost watchdog the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has posted a Protocol outlining how it will conduct its third annual assessment of how well major insurers’ prescription drug coverage policies align with a set of fair access standards. 13 April 2023
US biotech major Biogen today announced that it has exercised its option to license Denali Therapeutic’s antibody transport vehicle (ATV): Amyloid beta program (ATV:Aβ), lifting the latter’s shares up 3% in early trading. 12 April 2023
The protocol for the POSITIVE study, the first clinical study in dermatology to assess patients’ wellbeing as a primary endpoint, has been published in the British Medical Journal. 12 April 2023
As part of its aim to expand into cell therapies, Danish diabetes care giant Novo Nordisk has entered into a collaboration with a Canadian biotech that could cost it as much as $2.6 billion. 12 April 2023
South Korean biotech Genexine saw its shares gain more than 9% to 13,850 won, after, along with partner KG Bio, it released interim results of the Phase III clinical trial of GX-E4 (efepoetin alfa), a candidate for chronic kidney disease (CKD)-induced anemia. 12 April 2023
Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda has linked up with little-known Canadian biotech Treventis for the further research, development, and commercialization of small molecules that target tau, a key protein in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). 12 April 2023
Concerns about Moderna’s post-COVID strategy have sparked a share price slide, following an ambivalent analysis from the firm’s flu vaccine program. 12 April 2023
A newly-published cost effectiveness analysis for Tarpeyo (budesonide) could help developer Calliditas Therapeutics increase sales in the USA, where the therapy was approved at the end of 2021. 12 April 2023
India’s Delhi High Court has refused to grant an interim injunction to German family-owned pharma major Boehringer Ingelheim in patent litigation concerning its patent-protected diabetes drug linagliptin, which is marketed under the brand names Trajenta and Trajenta Duo. 12 April 2023