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
The World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) today finalized a licensing agreement with the USA’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the development of several innovative therapeutics, early-stage vaccines and diagnostic tools for COVID-19. 12 May 2022
Russian drug manufacturers and laboratories are faced with serious shortage of excipients, which is mainly due to serious interruptions in their deliveries to the Russian market, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 12 May 2022
Switzerland’s EffRx Pharmaceuticals, Slovenia’s Medis, Russia’s Orpharm, Brazil’s OrphanDC, and Dubai-based Vector Pharma, announced today the newly-formed World Orphan Drug Alliance (WODA). 12 May 2022
In line with most analysts’ expectations, Germany’s Merck KGaA has reported group sales of 5.2 billion euros ($5.4 billion) for the first quarter, an increase of 12.2%. 12 May 2022
Investment company eureKARE, which is focused on financing and building biotech companies in the disruptive fields of synthetic biology and the microbiome, has announced the emergence of eureKING. 12 May 2022
Tokyo’s Taiho Pharmaceutical, a business of Japanese drug major Otsuka Pharmaceutical, has agreed to buy part of Cullinan Oncology, thereby regaining rights to a candidate it out-licensed in 2019. 12 May 2022
US pharma major AbbVie yesterday announced positive top-line results from U-ENDURE, its Phase III maintenance study evaluating the JAK inhibitor Rinvoq (upadacitinib) in adult patients with moderate to severe Crohn's disease who had an inadequate response or were intolerant to a conventional or biologic therapy. 12 May 2022
Netherlands-based Qiagen has signed agreements to acquire a 96% majority ownership stake in Blirt SA, a manufacturer of recombinant enzymes for the life science industry based in Gdansk, Poland. 12 May 2022
Belgium’s cell therapy developer Bone Therapeutics (Euronext: BOTHE) today announced it has entered into a non-binding term sheet and exclusive discussions for a period of three months with the shareholders of Medsenic. 12 May 2022
Shares in Miami-based Veru were 4% higher at lunchtime Wednesday on the back of some good news from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 11 May 2022
The market for T-cell lymphomas (TCLs) – a rare type of the blood cancer group of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas – is expected to see strong growth at a 6.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next decade in the world’s eight major markets (8MM). 11 May 2022
Japanese ophthalmology specialist Santen Pharmaceutical has received approval of Verkazia (ciclosporin eye drops) from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in China through its Chinese legal entity for the treatment of severe vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) in children and adolescents aged 4 years and above. 11 May 2022
Gene therapy company Opus Genetics, which is developing treatments for inherited retinal diseases, today announced the appointment of Jennifer Hunt as chief development officer. 11 May 2022
USA-based brain health drug biotech Mind Medicines (MindMed; Nasdaq: MNMD) today released positive top-line data from a Phase II placebo-controlled investigator-initiated clinical trial evaluating LSD in the treatment of anxiety disorders. 11 May 2022
The US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) has announced the launch of the new Accelerating Rare disease Cures (ARC) Program. 11 May 2022
Fazed by a Phase III failure in lung cancer, investors offloaded Roche stock on Wednesday morning, sending the Swiss firm’s share price down nearly 5%. 11 May 2022
Shares of Denmark-based CNS specialist Lundbeck were up 7% at 161.30 Danish kroner in early afternoon trading, after it released a strong set of first-quarter 2022 financials. 11 May 2022
At the annual meeting of the European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID), Sanofi is presenting results from a pooled analysis of data for nirsevimab. 11 May 2022