Look! At that label! It's a brand drug! It's a generic! It's a compounded formulation! In what could be a revolution spurred by escalating drug prices, at least one specialty compounder, Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc., is pumping up its image as a hero who can stop drug price gougers in their tracks and defend the realm against generic price hikes. Read More
Months after closing a heavily oversubscribed series A extension and expanding its cash haul to $89 million, Crispr Therapeutics AG found itself opening a much larger cash drawer. Read More
SHANGHAI – Beijing-based Canbridge Life Science Inc., a biotech focused on developing Western drugs that treat China-specific diseases, has received an additional $10 million in VC financing, doubling the round it completed last year and putting the total venture financing at $20 million. Read More
With seven new-indication or product approvals possibly ahead through 2018, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. should have no problem using the priority review voucher gained via the FDA's clearance Friday of Strensiq (asfotase alfa) for perinatal-, infantile- and juvenile-onset bone disorder hypophosphatasia (HPP), a high-cost, breakthrough therapy that shouldn't feel any pain during this election year's storm over drug profiteering. Read More
Last week's unexpected FDA complete response letter (CRL) for multiple myeloma drug Evomela (melphalan) hasn't disrupted Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s plan for bladder cancer candidate apaziquone. Read More
HONG KONG — Japanese neurobiologists have used a mouse model of spontaneous depression to demonstrate a link between depression and the paraventricular thalamus, a region of the brain not previously linked to depression, a finding that could lead to the development of new antidepressive therapies. Read More
Earlier this year, President Obama unveiled details about the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), a research effort designed to pioneer a patient care model to accelerate the shift from the one-size-fits-all approach to personalized medicine. Read More
SHANGHAI – When Zai Lab Ltd. first came on the scene 18 months ago, nabbing global rights to two Sanofi SA assets for chronic respiratory disease, it looked like Zai would join the ranks of emerging virtual biotechs that use in-licensing to close China's unmet medical needs gap, but this time with a focus on oncology and autoimmune diseases. Read More
Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said the European Commission granted orphan medicinal product designation to CAT-1004 for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Read More
Merck & Co. Inc., of Kenilworth, N.J., disclosed top-line results from the Keynote-010 study with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) demonstrating that the trial met its primary objective. Read More