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
Russia may be faced with a shortage of Convulex (valproic acid) - one of the most popular drugs for the treatment of epilepsy – as its manufacturer, the Canadian firm Bausch Health, has stopped exports of the drug to the Russian market. 17 February 2022
US biotech companies Sage Therapeutics and Biogen have announced that the CORAL study in people with major depressive disorder (MDD) met the trial objectives. 16 February 2022
Third Harmonic Bio, a US clinical-stage company developing a first-in-class, highly selective, oral KIT inhibitor for treatment of severe allergy and inflammation, today launched from stealth, with the closing of a Series B financing that brings the total capital raised to date to $155 million. 16 February 2022
California’s Cytokinetics has announced top-line results from the METEORIC-HF Phase III trial of omecamtiv mecarbil in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). 16 February 2022
The European Commission (EC) has granted Marketing Authorization for Oxbryta (voxelotor), from Global Blood Therapeutics, for the treatment of hemolytic anemia due to sickle cell disease (SCD) in adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older as monotherapy or in combination with hydroxycarbamide (hydroxyurea). 16 February 2022
Privately-held UK biotech Curve Therapeutics today announces a global research collaboration with US pharma giant Merck & Co, known as MSD outside the USA and Canada, to discover and validate modulators of up to five therapeutic targets using its Microcycle technology, initially for oncology and neurology indications. 16 February 2022
The US Food and Drug Administration will have a new leader, after the Senate confirmed Robert Califf in a tight vote, 50 to 46, which exposed political divisions over a range of healthcare issues. 16 February 2022
First-in-class lupus therapy Saphnelo (anifrolumab) has been approved in the European Union as an add-on therapy for people with moderate to severe disease. 16 February 2022
The European Commission has granted marketing authorization for the next-generation long-acting recombinant human growth hormone Ngenla (somatrogon). 16 February 2022
Antibody drug conjugate (ADC) specialist ImmunoGen has entered into a global, multi-year definitive licensing agreement whereby it granted pharma major Eli Lilly exclusive rights to research, develop and commercialize ADCs directed to targets selected by Lilly based on ImmunoGen's novel camptothecin technology. 16 February 2022
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Pharmascience from a decision of the Federal Court that found Canadian patent No 2,760,802 (the 802 patent) valid and infringed by Pharmascience's proposed glatiramer acetate product, a generic of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone and Pharmascience's Glatect. 16 February 2022
US clinical-stage biotech Legend Biotech Corporation managed to close up 2.2% yesterday, despite announcing that, on Friday, February 11, the company was informed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) via email communication that its Phase I clinical trial for LB1901 has been placed on clinical hold. 16 February 2022
Privately-held drug discovery company Aquinnah Pharmaceuticals has announced an agreement with Swiss cancer giant Roche in neurodegenerative diseases. 16 February 2022
The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and its specialist group Vaccines Europe have highlighted a series of statistics to show progress being made in vaccinating the world against COVID-19. 16 February 2022
The potential Food and Drug Administration acceptance of US biopharma Anavex Life Sciences’ AVATAR as a pivotal Phase III trial would have an important bearing on the Rett syndrome market, as it could enable blarcamesine to launch at a similar time as Australia-based Neuren Pharmaceuticals’ trofenitide, which is a major future competitor. 16 February 2022
Influential pricing watchdog ICER - the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review - has released a final report into the cost-effectiveness of Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 agonist tirzepatide. 15 February 2022