Look back at pharma news in week to April 13

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell, Editor

Mergers and acquisitions were very much in the news last week. First, there was Novartis announced takeover of US gene therapy firm AveXis for around $8.7 billion, and then came Alexion Pharmaceuticals, with a bid of around $855 million for Sweden’s Wilson Therapeutics and its rare disease candidate WTX101. On the research front, the good news was that Merck & Co announced significant success for its blockbuster drug Keytruda in lung cancer, and AbbVie released positive Phase III trial data on its upadacitinib. Not so good was that NewLink is reviewing its IDO program following the disappointment of Incyte’s epacadostat trial, and that vTv Therapeutics’ Alzheimer’s disease candidate azeliragon has failed in a Phase III study.

Novartis acquisition a vote of confidence for gene therapy