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
Thursday’s trading wiped more than 43% off the value of Talaris Therapeutics, a US cell therapy firm developing treatments in solid organ transplantation and severe immune and blood disorders. 21 October 2022
US clinical-stage biotech Minerva Neurosciences (Nasdaq: NERV) has recently received a refusal to file letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding its new drug application (NDA) for roluperidone, which was filed in August, for the treatment of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, is yet another obstacle to the drug’s development. 21 October 2022
Belgian company Rewind Therapeutics, which is developing first-in-class treatments for demyelination-associated diseases, has named Irene Knuesel its new chief scientific officer (CSO). 21 October 2022
In the first three quarters of the year, with investment activity accelerating in the three months leading to August 31, UK-based life sciences and biotech companies raised some £1.5 billion ($1.67 billion) in equity finance. 21 October 2022
Shares in Parisian immuno-oncology specialist OSE Immunotherapeutics rose by around a third on Friday morning, after the firm provided an update on its neoepitope cancer vaccine Tedopi. 21 October 2022
Following a Series A financing of $27 million a year ago, Singapore-based AUM Biosciences has entered into an agreement to merge with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). 21 October 2022
USA-based CNS specialist Corium and Gurnet Point Capital have announced the acquisition of their manufacturing business and a $100 million equity investment by Webster Equity Partners. 21 October 2022
Swiss pharma giant Roche has become the latest large biopharma company to team up with Austrian arenaviral technology firm Hookipa Pharma. 20 October 2022
Data on Incyte’s Opzelura (ruxolitinib) cream from the pivotal Phase III TRuE-V clinical trial program have been published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). 20 October 2022
While there has been a dearth mega-billion M&A activity in the pharma sector this year, smaller deals are coming through, now with US pharma major AbbVie announcing its second acquisition this year. 20 October 2022
Japanese gastroenterology giant Takeda has inked a deal with German firms Zedira and Dr. Falk Pharma for the development of a celiac disease candidate, TAK-227. 20 October 2022
Swiss pharma giant Novartis has entered into a voluntary licensing agreement for its chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) drug with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), agreeing to the production of generics in low-and-middle income countries. 20 October 2022
Bristol Myers Squibb has presented data that reinforces the benefits of its immuno-oncology blockbuster Opdivo (nivolumab) in the earlier stages of melanoma. 20 October 2022
The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Obstetrics, Reproduction and Urologic Advisory Committee yesterday voted to recommend that the FDA pursue withdrawal of approval of privately-held Swiss drugmaker Covis Pharma’s Makena (hydroxyprogesterone caproate injection), the only FDA-approved treatment to reduce the risk of preterm birth in pregnant women who have had a prior spontaneous preterm birth. 20 October 2022
An alternative to mRNA-based coronavirus vaccines has received an Emergency Use Authorization in the USA, providing a new option for a first booster dose. 20 October 2022
The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) human medicines committee (CHMP) has recommended extending the use of Comirnaty and Spikevax targeting the original strain of SARS-CoV-2. 20 October 2022
US messenger RNA (mRNA) Moderna today announced new clinical data on its bivalent Omicron-containing booster, mRNA-1273.214, demonstrating its superiority of the biotech’s original COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax. 19 October 2022
The recent European Commission’s (EC) approval of Eli Lilly’s (NYSE: LLY) Mounjaro (tirzepatide) for treating type 2 diabetes (T2D) is of paramount interest, and not only for T2D patients, as it could address vital unmet needs for other GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist–treated diseases, including obesity. 19 October 2022