News review for the week ending November 22

24 November 2019

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell, Editor

Regulatory news last week included a nice surprise for Swiss pharma giant Novartis with the earlier-than-expected US Food and Drug Administration approval for its Adakveo (crizanlizumab) for the treatment of a sickle cell disease complication. Also, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals gained FDA approval for its givosiran, now trade-named Givlaari, for acute hepatic porphyria. On the M&A front, Alkermes last Monday announced its first company acquisition in the past 20 years, agreeing to buy CNS specialist Rodin Therapeutics. Meantime, diabetes care giant Novo Nordisk inked a deal with US RNAi specialist Dicerna Pharmaceuticals on novel therapies for liver-related cardio-metabolic diseases involving an upfront payment of $175 million, and USA-based Karuna Therapeutics pleased investors with the release of strong Phase II data for its schizophrenia candidate KarXT.

Novartis’ win in sickle cell cold scythe Global Blood’s ambitions

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