As soon as the bell rang Monday with the FDA's approval of Incivek as the next hepatitis C contender, Vertex Pharmaceutical Inc. was ready to throw some punches to claim its share of the market. Read More
Editor's note: BioWorld Today explores the Chinese biotech market in this second of an occasional series of articles. See BioWorld Today, May 18, 2011, for the first report. Read More
Transcription is seen as the faithful copying of genetic instructions from one language into another: a given DNA base, so the idea goes, will be transcribed into a strictly predictable RNA base – DNA's C becomes RNA's G and vice versa, and so forth, except for the odd error every 10,000 bases or so. Read More
In an industry riddled with disappointing data, regulatory setbacks and a depressing 90 percent-plus failure rate, biotech companies have learned to be resilient, raising money whenever possible – and sometimes when it almost isn't – and often reinventing themselves in the wake of disastrous pipeline flops. Read More
After more than a decade of development, Genta Inc. appears to be putting beleaguered antisense drug Genasense (oblimersen sodium) out of its misery. Read More
Santarus Inc., of San Diego, reported that an open-label study of Rhucin (recombinant human C1 inhibitor) for angioedema supported safety and efficacy conclusions from earlier studies. The data covered 57 patients who received repeat treatment with Rhucin for 194 acute angioedema attacks. The study was an extension of one of two randomized, controlled trials forming the basis for regulatory approval in Europe. The results were presented at the C1 Inhibitor Deficiency Workshop in Budapest, Hungary. Read More
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y., said the FDA scheduled a Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting June 17 to review the biologics license application (BLA) for VEGF Trap-Eye (aflibercept ophthalmic solution) for wet age-related macular degeneration. Regeneron submitted the BLA in February. VEGF Trap-Eye is partnered with Berlin-based Bayer AG. Read More