More than three quarters of oncologists agree or strongly agree that cuts to the Cancer Drugs Fund in the UK will compromise their ability to make optimal treatment choices, according to a survey sponsored by Sanofi. 10 March 2015
The Scottish Medicines Consortium has approved Zydelig (idelalisib) from Gilead for adult chronic lymphocytic leukemia in combination with rituximab. 9 March 2015
Prime Therapeutics, a non-profit US pharmacy benefit manager serving more than 26 million members, has responded to the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of the first biosimilar to enter the US market. 9 March 2015
The German Court of Appeal has ruled that US pharma major Eli Lilly’s vitamin regimen patent for its lung cancer drug Alimta (pemetrexed disodium) would not be infringed by generic competitor Actavis. 7 March 2015
Sandoz, the generics unit of Swiss pharma giant Novartis, today received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for its biosimilar drug Zarxio (filgrastim-sndz) for all indications included in the label of the reference product. 6 March 2015
US drugmaker AbbVie’s acquisition of Pharmacyclics, valued at $21 billion, will help the company alleviate its dependency on Humira (adalimumab), which accounted for 62% of its total revenues in 2014, up from 57% in 2013, noted Joshua Owide, GlobalData’s director of health care industry dynamics. 6 March 2015
Japanese drug major Eisai saw its shares gain 7.15% to 6,732 yen after it announced it had entered into a collaboration with US pharma giant Merck & Co to study their drug combinations in clinical trials. 5 March 2015
Netherlands-headquartered independent drugmaker Norgine says that its affiliate, SpePharm AG, has entered into an exclusive sublicense agreement with US biotech firm Navidea Biopharmaceuticals for the commercialization and distribution in Europe and certain other key markets of Lymphoseek (technetium Tc 99m tilmanocept) injection. 5 March 2015
The US Food and Drug Administration late yesterday expanded the approved use of pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Opdivo (nivolumab) to treat patients with advanced (metastatic) squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 5 March 2015
Shares of Australian biotech company Novogen rose dramatically as it announced that one of its lead candidate products, TRXE-009, is showing the potential to become an important new therapy in the fight against adult and pediatric brain cancer. 5 March 2015
US drugmaker AbbVie revealed late yesterday that it has reached an agreement to acquire US biopharma company Pharmacyclics and its flagship asset Imbruvica (ibrutinib), a highly effective treatment for hematologic malignancies. 5 March 2015
Clinical-stage biopharma company arGEN-X has exercised its option to exclusively license preclinical therapeutic antibody candidate, now called ARGX-115, to target GARP, an immune checkpoint with potential in cancer immunotherapy. 4 March 2015
Analysts at Morningstar Equity Research see significantly more opportunity than the overall market for drugmakers who play in immuno-oncology. 4 March 2015
Danish biotech firm Bavarian Nordic has granted US pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb an exclusive option to license and commercialize Prostvac. 4 March 2015
The US subsidiary of Japanese pharma major Eisai has now launched its in-house developed novel anticancer agent Lenvima (lenvatinib mesylate) as a treatment for locally recurrent or metastatic, progressive, radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer in the USA. 3 March 2015
Canada’s Oncolytics Biotech revealed today that the US Food and Drug Administration has granted Orphan Drug designation for its lead product candidate, Reolysin (pelareorep), a proprietary formulation of human reovirus, for the treatment of primary peritoneal cancers. 3 March 2015
Although lung cancer is the third most prevalent cancer type in the world, there are only 18 drugs in the market for its treatment. Further, popular drugs such as Alimta (pemetrexed) and Avastin (bevacizumab) are nearing their patent expiry in 2015 and 2017, respectively. 3 March 2015
The European Commission has approved US biotech firm Celgene’s Abraxane (paclitaxel formulated as albumin-bound nanoparticles, or nab-paclitaxel) in combination with carboplatin for the first-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). 2 March 2015
In what Astella Pharma calls “a landmark decision for advanced bladder cancer patients,” the Japanese drugmaker gained approval in the UK for its treatment regimen. 10 October 2024
Pfizer released positive top line results from the final prespecified overall survival (OS) analysis of the TALAPRO-2 study of Talzenna (talazoparib), an oral poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, in combination with Xtandi (enzalutamide). 10 October 2024
US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson’s Tecvayli (teclistamab) has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a first-line option to treat myeloma in England and Wales. 10 October 2024
Cancer start-up Black Diamond Therapeutics has announced a significant restructuring as part of its plan to focus resources on its lead drug, BDTX-1535. 10 October 2024
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted for review the Marketing Authorization Applications for AVT03, a proposed biosimilar candidate to the Prolia and Xgeva (denosumab), submitted by Germany’s STADA Arzneimittel. 10 October 2024
China’s Quantum Pharmaceuticals has announced a significant licensing agreement between its biologics-focused subsidiary, Ailux Biologics, and Johnson & Johnson. 10 October 2024
Advances in gene editing, such as the FDA approval of Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel) in December 2023 for the treatment of beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease, have fueled significant interest in innovative epigenetic drugs. 10 October 2024
German family-owned pharma major Boehringer Ingelheim and USA-based Circle Pharma (have entered into a research collaboration and license agreement with the shared goal to develop a first-in-class cyclin inhibitor that can halt the growth of cancer cells potentially offering hope to those living with hard-to-treat cancers. 9 October 2024
Bayer has entered into a collaboration with MOMA Therapeutics to develop a small molecule oncology program using the latter’s proprietary KNOMATIC platform. 9 October 2024
Genor Biopharma has announced plans for a significant merger with Edding Group, marking one of the first reverse takeovers involving a Hong Kong-listed biopharma company. 8 October 2024
China-headquartered clinical-stage biotech MediLink Therapeutics has announced a global clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with US major Amgen. 8 October 2024
Germany’s Eckert & Ziegler, a specialist in radioisotopes for medical, scientific and industrial applications, has announced a global clinical supply agreement with GlyTherix, an Australian targeted radiotherapy firm specializing in developing antibody radiopharmaceuticals for solid tumors. 8 October 2024
US clinical-stage biotech OnKure Therapeutics has announced the completion of its previously announced merger with Reneo Pharmaceuticals. 8 October 2024
Daejeon-based Orum Therapeutics, a specialist in degrader-antibody conjugates (DAC), has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on South Korea's Kosdaq market. 7 October 2024
Mosaic Therapeutics, a UK-based oncology therapeutics company dedicated to resolving cancer’s complexity to power new combination therapies for patients, has announced the appointment of Barry Davies as chief scientific officer. 7 October 2024