French pharma major Sanofi’s Indian subsidiary said today that it has entered into a marketing and distribution agreement with Emcure Pharmaceuticals for its oncology portfolio in India. 6 August 2014
Health Canada has approved US biotech company Celgene’s Abraxane, and gemcitabine, marketed by US drug major Eli Lilly, for first-line treatment of adults with metastatic pancreatic cancer. 6 August 2014
Swiss biotech firm Actelion is to partner with patient-powered research network PatientsLikeMe to create a new patient-reported outcome tool for MF-CTCL, a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. 6 August 2014
US specialty pharma firm Ariad Pharmaceuticals has granted Israel’s Medison Pharma exclusive rights to commercialize Iclusig (ponatinib) in Israel for patients with Philadelphia-positive (Ph+) leukemias. 6 August 2014
Chinese specialty pharma company Yabao is to partner with Changzhou Le Sun to develop Le Sun’s LS-008, a PLK/PI3K dual inhibitor under pre-clinical development. 6 August 2014
The European Commission has approved the use of Swiss pharma major Roche’s blockbuster cancer drug Avastin (bevacizumab) in combination with paclitaxel, topotecan, or pegylated liposomal doxorubicin chemotherapy as a treatment for women with recurrent ovarian cancer that is resistant to platinum-containing chemotherapy. 6 August 2014
New Zealand’s Pharmaceutical Management Agency PHARMAC has awarded sole subsidised supply status in the community, and hospital supply status in District Health Boards (DHB) hospitals, to US health care giant Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen-Cilag’s brand of erythropoietin, Eprex (erythropoietin alfa). 5 August 2014
Patients in the UK with one of the most common forms of blood cancer can now benefit from a new injection. MabThera (rituximab) subcutaneous (SC), which is given to patients just beneath the skin, can be administered in around five minutes, compared to the current two and a half hour intravenous (IV) infusion. 5 August 2014
Both the European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration have granted orphan drug designation to US drugmaker AbbVie's investigational compound ABT-414. 4 August 2014
USA-based Amgen, the world’s leading independent biotech firm, and its subsidiary Onyx, say their Phase III trial of Kyprolis (carfilzomib) in combination with Revlimid (lenalidomide) and low-dose dexamethasone has met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival. 4 August 2014
Japanese drugmaker Taiho Pharmaceutical says it is terminating a Phase III clinical trial (ORIENTAL trial) of the angiogenesis inhibitor TSU-68 (orantinib) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma due to disappointing results. 4 August 2014
UK biopharmaceutical company Vernalis and Servier, France’s largest independent drugmaker, say that have achieved two milestones in their oncology drug discovery collaborations, triggering a payment of 750,000 euros ($1 million) to Vernalis. 4 August 2014
Orphan oncology drug specialist Onxeo, created by a merger between French company BioAlliance Pharma, and Danish biopharmaceutical company Topotarget, has made an operating loss in the first half of 2014, but are laying the foundations for the new company. 4 August 2014
US drug developer Ziopharm Oncology and Japan’s Solasia Pharma, a developer of oncology pharmaceuticals in-licensed for commercialization in major markets throughout the world, announced today an amendment and restatement of their up to license and collaboration agreement for darinaparsin (Zinapar or ZIO-101) and related organoarsenic molecules. 1 August 2014
UK Pharma major GlaxoSmithKline and Danish biotechnology company Genmab have said that an interim analysis of a Phase III study of ofatumumab met predefined levels to prove its efficacy. 1 August 2014
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved a request by Japanese drug major Eisai for the accelerated assessment of the investigational oral multiple receptor typrosine kinase inhibitor lenvatinib. 31 July 2014
The UK clinical guidance body, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), is again consulting on the use of lenalidomide, marketed as Revlimid by Celgene, in the treatment of blood cancer multiple myeloma after one prior treatment with bortexomib. 31 July 2014
Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca today announced that it has entered into a clinical study collaboration with Japanese drugmaker Kyowa Hakko Kirin for a Phase I/Ib immuno-oncology study. 30 July 2014
Swiss drug major Roche has announced that its drug Gazyvaro (obinutuzumab) has been approved by the European Commission in combination with chlorambucil chemotherapy for the treatment of previously untreated lymphocytic leukemia with comorbidities making them unsuitable for an intensive therapy. 29 July 2014
The US Food and Drug Administration has granted USA-based Pharmacyclics approval for Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who have received at least one prior therapy, and for the treatment of CLL patients with deletion of the short arm of chromosome 17, including treatment naive and previously treated del 17p CLL patients. 29 July 2014
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