News review for the week ending December 6

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell, Editor

Company and product acquisitions featured in the news last week, first with Japan’s Astellas Pharma announcing a $3 billion bid for US biotech Audentes Therapeutics, marking a major move into gene therapy. Also, Canada’s Xenon Pharmaceuticals on Monday entered a licensing deal with Neurocrine Biosciences for its epilepsy candidate XEN901. An additional Food and Drug Administration indication approval for Roche’s Tecentriq in lung cancer sets up immune-oncology competition with Merck & Co’s Keytruda. On the research front, there was disappointment on Thursday for Sage Therapeutics, whose depression drug SAGE-217 failed in a Phase III trial, and Biogen presented new data on two studies of its previously shelved Alzheimer’s disease candidate aducanumab.

Astellas spends $3 billion on bold move into gene therapy