20 November 2024 Sweden-based Xbrane Biopharma and Intas Pharmaceuticals have announced an exclusive global licensing and co-development agreement for the former company’s Opdivo (nivolumab) biosimilar candidate.
UK drugmaker GSK might be trading lower following Thursday’s nomination of vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as the USA’s next health secretary, but the day brought good news for the group elsewhere in the business. 15 November 2024
Oxford, UK-based rare respiratory diseases focused AlveoGene today revealed it has been granted a Rare Pediatric Disease designation (RPDD) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for AVG-002, its novel, inhaled gene therapy for lethal neonatal surfactant protein B (SP-B) deficiency. 15 November 2024
Shares of German drug discovery company Evotec leapt 20% to 10.33 euros this morning on the revelation that the USA’s Halozyme Therapeutics has submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire Evotec for 11.00 euros per share in cash, implying a fully-diluted equity value of around 2.0 billion euros ($2.12 billion). 15 November 2024
BeiGene has announced plans to rebrand as BeOne Medicines, a move the cancer specialist says reflects its commitment to fighting cancer through collaboration. 15 November 2024
Merck & Co has entered into an exclusive global license to develop, manufacture and commercialize LM-299 from China-based clinical-stage biotech LaNova Medicines, bringing the US pharma giant into the newly attractive PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody space. 15 November 2024
ALX Oncology Holdings, a Californian immuno-oncology company, has announced the appointment of Alan Sandler as chief medical officer (CMO). 14 November 2024
Swiss clinical-stage biopharma AC Immune saw its shares gain 8% to $3.38 in US trading this morning, after it released positive interim safety and immunogenicity data from the Phase II VacSYn clinical trial evaluating ACI-7104.056. 14 November 2024
This week, we discuss a novel AI-driven approach to drug development, and its potential to transform the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. 14 November 2024
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval of PTC Therapeutics’ gene therapy for the treatment of AADC (aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase) deficiency, making it the first-ever gene therapy approved in the USA that is directly administered to the brain. 14 November 2024
Pharma major Bristol Myers Squibb and US biotech Cabaletta Bio are set to present promising Phase I data on CD19-directed CAR-T therapies for severe, refractory lupus at the American College of Rheumatology 2024. 14 November 2024
Adaptimmune Therapeutics reported promising data Wednesday from its pivotal Phase II trial of lete-cel in certain solid tumors with few effective treatments. 14 November 2024
Privately-held Flare Therapeutics, a US biotech targeting transcription factors to discover precision medicines for oncology and other therapeutic areas, has entered into a strategic discovery collaboration with Swiss pharma giant Roche. 14 November 2024
Shares of US genetic meds company MeiraGTx Holdings were up 7% at $7.12 in early trading after it announced important developments along with its third-quarter 2024 financials, reporting a $0.54 per share loss. 13 November 2024
Japanese drugmaker Nippon Shinyaku and USA-based Atsena Therapeutics have entered into an exclusive license agreement for the commercialization of ATSN-101 in the USA and Japan for advancing Atsena’s first- in-class, investigational gene therapy ATSN-101 for Leber congenital amaurosis caused by biallelic mutations in GUCY2D (LCA1). 13 November 2024
Belgian drugmaker UCB and US biotech Biogen’s Phase III PHOENYCS GO trial results signal a pivotal development for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) treatment, as dapirolizumab pegol met its primary endpoint and demonstrated enhanced disease control and safety at Week 48. 13 November 2024
Sino-American firm Insilico Medicine has shown the potential not just of its pipeline and lead candidate by presenting impressive Phase IIa data this week, but also of its in-silico drug discovery model and the wider artificial intelligence (AI) field. 13 November 2024
Anglo-American biotech Apollo Therapeutics and China-based Sunshine Lake Pharma have signed an exclusive license agreement to develop APL-18881, a bi-specific fusion protein aimed at treating metabolic diseases. 13 November 2024
Dutch firm Argenx and China’s Zai Lab have received an approval from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for Vyvgart Hytrulo (efgartigimod alfa). 13 November 2024
Sanofi has announced that the UK's health technology assessor will conduct a new review of its Sarclisa (isatuximab) combo therapy for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. 13 November 2024
Although it is seeing a downturn in sales and profits, German biotech BioNTech is continuing to acquire assets with the cash pile it made through the covid pandemic, notably iis Comirnaty vaccine that was developed with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). 13 November 2024
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval of Ziihera (zanidatamab-hrii) 50mg/mL for injection for intravenous use, say the drug’s developer, Jazz Pharmaceuticals. 21 November 2024
Eli Lilly is not resting on its laurels when it comes to the fast-growing field of obesity treatments, an area in which it is already a leader. 21 November 2024
Aizen Therapeutics, an AI-driven biotech headquartered in San Diego, has officially launched from stealth mode, introducing its drug discovery platform, DaX. 21 November 2024
San Diego-based Valora Therapeutics, a biotech that boasts of having a novel approach to immunotherapy, has announced the successful closing of a $30 million seed funding round. 21 November 2024
Astellas Pharma has been hit by bad news from the US Food and Drug Administration, which will not currently approve the firm’s request to supplement the label for Izervay (avacincaptad pegol). 21 November 2024
San Diego-based Kura Oncology and Japan’s Kyowa Kirin have entered into a global strategic collaboration to develop and commercialize ziftomenib. 21 November 2024
HCW Biologics has announced a worldwide licensing agreement with WY Biotech to develop and commercialize one of its preclinical immunotherapy candidates. 21 November 2024
Dutch clinical-stage biotech NewAmsterdam Pharma, which is focused on non-statin medicines for patients at risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), has announced positive top-line data from its Phase III TANDEM clinical trial. 21 November 2024
US biotech major Amgen has announced that Dr Howard Chang will join the company as senior vice president of research, effective December 16, 2024. 21 November 2024
US clinical-stage biotech Vyriad has entered into a strategic collaboration with Swiss pharma giant Novartis to discover and develop in vivo chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. 21 November 2024
Bioplatform company builder Flagship Pioneering has announced its companies Ampersand Biomedicines and Montai Therapeutics have entered into agreements to identify targeted molecules that could potentially be further developed as treatments for obesity and lung cancer. 20 November 2024
A pair of industry veterans have teamed up to create Jupiter Bioventures, a San Francisco-based biotech venture foundry promised to build bold, science-driven therapeutics companies. 20 November 2024
The landscape of atopic dermatitis (AD) treatment is advancing with approvals of oral and topical Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors across the seven major pharmaceutical markets (7MM; USA, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and Japan). 20 November 2024
Johnson & Johnson and partner Protagonist Therapeutics have reported positive topline results from two Phase III studies testing a first-in-class oral peptide. 20 November 2024
The UK’s health technology assessor the Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) says that talks with the makers of Enhertu have ended without agreement, meaning guidance that does not recommend Enhertu for advanced breast cancer will remain unchanged. 20 November 2024
US pharma giant Merck & Co today announced positive top-line results from the pivotal Phase III MK-3475A-D77 trial for its mega blockbuster drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in subcutaneous form. 19 November 2024
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Company Spotlight
Cytokinetics is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing first-in-class muscle activators as potential treatments for debilitating diseases in which muscle performance is compromised and/or declining.