Look back at pharma news to Dec 8

Among last week’s most interesting news were two acquisition deals in the field of immuno-oncology: Gilead Sciences buy of Cell Design Labs and bluebird bio’s takeover assets from Scottish firm TC BioPharm. Gilead also added to the news flow, in that the first patient has been dosed with its newly-approved lymphoma drug Yescarta by the Moffitt Cancer Center. On the licensing front, Collegium Pharmaceuticals acquired rights to Nucynta and Juno Therapeutics lined up with Eli Lilly, taking the US pharma major into the immuno-oncology arena.

Spotlight – CAR-T: the next generation

The hype over CAR-T therapy has reached epic proportions, but companies in the space are already looking beyond current products to next-generation technologies addressing new tumour types or promising fewer side effects, noted EP Vantage, the editorial arm of the Evaluate group.