7 January 2025 Unquestionably, US drugmaker Vertex Pharmaceuticals is the dominant drug developer in the cystic fibrosis (CF) space.
How has the company achieved this — on the R&D and patient access side — and what is the company doing to help the remaining patients? Vertex’s Andrew Wilfin, Senior Country Medical Director, UK and Ireland, took part in a Q&A with The Pharma Letter to reveal all.
Insilico Medicine, a biotechnology firm specializing in artificial intelligence-powered drug discovery, has raised over $100 million in a series E funding round. 8 January 2025
Calico Life Sciences, a biotech founded by Alphabet and Arthur Levinson focused on the biology of aging and age-related diseases, has announced a setback. 8 January 2025
Denmark’s Novo Nordisk and Valo Health today announced they have entered into an expanded agreement to discover and develop novel treatments for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease based on Valo’s extensive human dataset and computation powered by artificial intelligence (AI). 8 January 2025
Antag Therapeutics, a Denmark-based biopharma developing novel treatments for obesity, has announced the appointment of Joerg Moeller as chief executive officer, effective immediately. 8 January 2025
Metsera today announced positive data from a 12-week Phase IIa clinical trial of MET-097i, its potential once-monthly, ultra-long acting, subcutaneously injectable, fully-biased, GLP-1 receptor agonist (RA). 7 January 2025
Central nervous system (CNS) specialist Neuraxpharm Group has acquired Provigil (modafinil) and Nuvigil (armodafinil), both of which are indicated for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in adults with narcolepsy. 7 January 2025
Japan-based FUSO Pharmaceutical Industries and Australia’s Dimerix Limited have entered into an exclusive development and license agreement for the development and commercialization of Dimerix’ Phase III drug candidate DMX-200 for the treatment of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) kidney disease in Japan. 7 January 2025
The heart failure market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.6% over the next decade, increasing from $13.5 billion in 2022 to $33.7 billion in 2032 across seven major markets, according to a report from analytics firm GlobalData. 7 January 2025
A late-stage trial failure has dented Denali Therapeutics stock, with an announcement Monday revealing the HEALEY ALS study missed all endpoints. 7 January 2025
Unquestionably, US drugmaker Vertex Pharmaceuticals is the dominant drug developer in the cystic fibrosis (CF) space.
How has the company achieved this — on the R&D and patient access side — and what is the company doing to help the remaining patients? Vertex’s Andrew Wilfin, Senior Country Medical Director, UK and Ireland, took part in a Q&A with The Pharma Letter to reveal all. 7 January 2025
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a draft guidance to provide recommendations on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) intended to support a regulatory decision about a drug or biological product’s safety, effectiveness or quality. 7 January 2025
Sentynl Therapeutics, wholly owned by Zydus Lifesciences, has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration has accepted its New Drug Application for CUTX-101, a potential first treatment for Menkes disease. The application has been granted priority review, with a target action date set for June 30, 2025. 7 January 2025
rug Administration (FDA) approved an update to the US Prescribing Information (USPI) for Pyrukynd (mitapivat) for the treatment of hemolytic anemia in adults with pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency, Agios Pharmaceutical revealed in a Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) notice. 7 January 2025
Patrick Branch, head of Japan and APAC business development at Nxera Pharma,
Japan’s most innovative and nimble biopharma company, provides a summary of the year in the important eastern market. 6 January 2025
Immedica Pharma, a Swedish company specializing in rare diseases, has announced its acquisition of Marinus Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at $151 million. The agreement, finalized through a cash tender offer, marks a significant expansion of Immedica’s presence in the US market. 6 January 2025
Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca has announced that new, positive, long-term results from the pivotal ALPHA Phase III trial have appeared in the journal Blood, which is published by the American Society of Hematology. 6 January 2025
Alon Natanson, a business leader and alumnus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has been appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of Yissum, the Israeli Hebrew University Tech Transfer company. 6 January 2025
Japanese drugmaker Otsuka Pharmaceutical has announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted for review the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for the hereditary angioedema(HAE) drug candidate donidalorsen. 6 January 2025
UK pharma major AstraZeneca’s shares were up 2.7% at 10,094 pence Friday, after it revealed that its Tagrisso (osimertinib) with the addition of chemotherapy has been approved in the USA for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated (EGFRm) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 19 February 2024
Autoimmune diseases specialist Aurinia Pharmaceuticals lost 24% of its market value on Thursday after presenting an update on the firm’s future. 16 February 2024
San Diego, USA-based precision oncology company Erasca announced two clinical trial collaboration and supply agreements (CTCSAs) with Swiss pharma giant Novartis for the MEK inhibitor Mekinist (trametinib). 15 February 2024
US biopharma Merrimack Pharmaceuticals has revealed plans to dissolve and hand out cash to shareholders from a newly-announced milestone payment that the company is to receive. 15 February 2024
Cathal Friel, co-founder, substantial shareholder, and currently non-executive chairman of London-listed Poolbeg Pharma, is assuming the role of executive chairman at the company effective immediately. 15 February 2024
Today, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Aurlumyn (iloprost) injection to treat severe frostbite in adults to reduce the risk of finger or toe amputation. 14 February 2024
Spanish plasma-derived products specialist Grifols has announced positive, top-line Phase III data for BT524, a fibrinogen concentrate being studied to treat patients with acquired fibrinogen deficiency, a bleeding disorder. 14 February 2024
Shares in AN2 Therapeutics, a US biopharma focused on developing treatments for rare, chronic, and serious infectious diseases with high unmet needs, closed 74% lower on Monday. 14 February 2024
US oncology company G1 Therapeutics was hoping for a positive interim analysis in its pivotal Phase III of trilaciclib alongside gemcitabine and carboplatin for the first-line treatment of metastatic triple negative breast cancer (mTNBC). 14 February 2024
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Onivyde (irinotecan liposome), from French drugmaker, in combination with oxaliplatin, fluorouracil, and leucovorin (NALIRIFOX regime), for the first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (mPDAC). 14 February 2024
US trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has made clear its opposition to the drug price-setting provisions in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 14 February 2024
US AI-enabled drug discoverer VantAI has entered into a strategic collaboration with pharma major Bristol Myers Squibb to discover new molecular glues for therapeutic targets of interest. 14 February 2024
KalVista Pharmaceuticals shares, which closed Monday at $16.04, were recently up 37% to $22 in pre-market activity, but fell back almost 13% to $14.01 by late morning today, after it released new research data. 13 February 2024
Japanese pharma major Takeda has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Eohilia (budesonide oral suspension), the first and only FDA-approved oral therapy for people 11 years and older with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). 13 February 2024
Shares of Japanese drugmaker Otsuka Pharmaceutical fell more than 5% to 5,359 yen today, as it released top line results of the Phase III clinical trial of AVP-786 in the treatment of agitation associated with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. 13 February 2024
The Yellow Card Biobank, a pilot launched by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Genomics England, is to start investigating a group of medicines used to prevent strokes known as direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). 13 February 2024