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
Germany’s Fresenius - via its operating company Fresenius Kabi - has announced the immediate US availability of Tyenne (tocilizumab-aazg), a biosimilar of Roche’s Actemra (tocilizumab). 16 April 2024
Japanese drugmaker Astellas expects to book an impairment charge of 70 billion yen ($453 million) in the fourth quarter of Japan’s 2023 fiscal year, which ended last month. 16 April 2024
US biotech Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals recently unveiled final data from its Phase II SHASTA-2 clinical trial for plozasiran, previously recognized as ARO-APOC3. 16 April 2024
USA-based rare seizure specialist Marinus Pharmaceuticals saw its shares crash, falling nearly 83% to $1.36, after it revealed that a trial failed to meet early stopping criteria. 16 April 2024
UK pharma major AstraZeneca has notched up another clinical success for its already blockbuster cancer drug Imfinzi (durvalumab) in biliary tract cancer. 16 April 2024
In a significant stride towards addressing the challenge of meningococcal-B disease, Serum Institute of India (SII) and the University of Oxford, UK, have formalized a technology license agreement negotiated by Oxford University Innovation. 16 April 2024
Italian family-owned drugmaker Chiesi Farmaceutici has appointed Richard Smith as vice president and business unit leader of the US AIR at Chiesi USA. 16 April 2024
Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court has cancelled the mechanism guaranteeing the predictability and sustainability of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) budget for drugs for 2021. 15 April 2024
US immuno-oncology company Portage Biotech has only around a fifth of its stock market value since early Friday, when the firm reported that it is expanding its evaluation of strategic alternatives and implementing additional measures to extend its cash runway. 15 April 2024
The Phase I trial of NMRA-266 has been placed on clinical hold by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said the drug’s developer, Massachusetts, USA-based based brain disease biotech Neumora Therapeutics. 15 April 2024
A US judge has dismissed a legal claim from pharma major Eli Lilly alleging that an online pharmacy illegally sold an unauthorized compounded version of the company's dual GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist tirzepatide. 15 April 2024
Japanese drugmaker Nxera Pharma has entered into an exclusive supply and distribution agreement with Handok to commercialize Pivlaz (clazosentan sodium) 150mg in South Korea. 15 April 2024
The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced proposals to improve access to gene therapies that have recently been approved for use in the USA for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). 15 April 2024
Roche’s CD20xCD3 T-cell engaging bispecific antibody Columvi (glofitamab) has met the primary endpoint of overall survival in relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the Phase III STARGLO study. 15 April 2024
A new modelling analysis by UK pharma major AstraZeneca, IMPACT CKD, forecasts up to 16.5% of the population across eight countries will suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD) by 2032, including a staggering rise of up to 59.3% in advanced-stage. 15 April 2024
The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) oncology drugs advisory committee (ODAC) voted 12-0 to endorse the use of minimal residual disease (MRD) at 10-5 in complete responders (CR) as an intermediate endpoint for accelerated approval, potentially opening the door to new trial designs for blood cancer drugs. 15 April 2024