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
It is no secret that last year was a generally a positive one for the world’s largest biopharmaceutical companies, particularly those with COVID-19 vaccines. 7 September 2022
Health authorities in Europe have urged countries to use newly-authorized adapted COVID-19 vaccines as part of autumn and winter vaccination campaigns. 7 September 2022
Privately-held Seattle, USA-based drug developer Good Therapeutics says it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Swiss pharma giant Roche. 7 September 2022
California’s Arsenal Biosciences, a privately-held programmable cell therapy company engineering advanced CAR-T therapies for solid tumors, has closed a $220 million Series B financing. 7 September 2022
Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Orbital Therapeutics launched today with a vision of enhancing global health by unleashing the full potential of RNA medicines to treat human disease in ways that were not previously possible. 7 September 2022
US biotech Rhythm Pharmaceuticals yesterday announced that the European Commission (EC) has expanded the marketing authorization for Imcivree (setmelanotide) to include the treatment of obesity and control of hunger associated with genetically confirmed Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) in adult and pediatric patients six years of age and older. 7 September 2022
Competition for one of the best-selling medicines of all time is gaining traction, with new three-year data for Hadlima (adalimumab-bwwd), a biosimilar of adalimumab developed by Samsung Bioepis. 7 September 2022
Belgium’s largest pharma company UCB has announced new three-year results from the BE BRIGHT open-label extension study of bimekizumab. 7 September 2022
The European Commission (EC) has approved CAR-T cell therapy Tecartus (brexucabtagene autoleucel) for the treatment of adult patients 26 years of age and above with relapsed or refractory (r/r) B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), developed by Kite, a part of Gilead Sciences. 7 September 2022
Germany-headquartered drugmaker Fresenius Kabi says that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its biosimilar, Stimufend (pegfilgrastim-fpgk), for use in patients with non-myeloid malignancies receiving myelosuppressive anti-cancer drugs associated with a clinically significant incidence of febrile neutropenia. 7 September 2022
Results from the DESTINATION Phase III extension trial showed Tezspire (tezepelumab) demonstrated an overall long-term safety and efficacy profile consistent with the previous PATHWAY Phase II and NAVIGATOR Phase III trials, sustained over 104 weeks in a broad population of patients with severe asthma. 7 September 2022
La Jolla, California-based immunology specialist Equillium and Metacrine have entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby Equillium will acquire Metacrine in an all-stock transaction, edging the latter’s shares up 2.7% to $0.47 by close of trading on Tuesday. 7 September 2022
STORM Therapeutics, a UK biotech discovering and developing small molecule therapies targeting RNA modification enzymes for oncology and other diseases, has announced the appointment of Gerald McMahon as president, chief executive and board director. 7 September 2022
The US Food and Drug Administration has lifted a clinical hold on research into SRP-5051, a candidate under development by rare disease company Sarepta Therapeutics. 6 September 2022
US biopharma Iveric Bio has announced positive top-line results from GATHER2, the company’s second Phase III trial of Zimura (avacincaptad pegol), a novel investigational complement C5 inhibitor, for the treatment of geographic atrophy (GA). 6 September 2022
New findings from the XALOC program support the real-world effectiveness of UK pharma major AstraZeneca’s Fasenra (benralizumab) in the management of patients with severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA), showing reductions in annualized asthma exacerbation rate (AAER), improvements in asthma control and the ability to achieve clinical remission. 6 September 2022
Confirming an earlier reimbursement decision, leading PARP blocker Lynparza (olaparib) has not been recommended for regular use in England and Wales, dealing a blow to people with prostate cancer. 6 September 2022
Nodus Oncology, a novel biotech company focused on developing first and best-in-class molecules inhibiting novel DNA damage response (DDR) targets, has launched with seed funding from Cumulus Oncology and announced a partnership with the Lead Discovery Center (LDC). 6 September 2022