In a deal worth $50 million up front and the potential to reach $2.5 billion, Tokyo’s Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, U.K., joined Merck & Co. Inc. in an exclusive worldwide research collaboration and license agreement to develop small-molecule inhibitors against several cancer targets, including the KRAS oncogene. Merck receives the global license to the candidates while Taiho and Astex get an aggregate $50 million. Taiho and Astex could bring in about $2.5 billion if they hit preclinical, clinical, regulatory and sales milestones, plus tiered royalties on sales.

Public biopharma company gainers and decliners for 2019

BioWorld conducted an analysis of 318 public companies whose shares were trading above $2 at the beginning of 2019, and found the group recorded an impressive average 42% gain in valuation for the year. The dramatic swing in sentiment late in the year certainly helped improve stock prices significantly, with 51% of the public biopharmas registering an increase in their share prices. The impressive overall gains, despite the mixed year for the sector, saw 57 companies recording a doubling or greater of their share prices.

Atyr shares bounce as Wall Street hails Kyorin deal for ILDs in Japan

Shares of San Diego-based Atyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIFE) were trading midday at $6.39, up $2.13 or 50%, after the company disclosed a collaboration and license agreement with Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, to develop and commercialize lead candidate ATYR-1923 for interstitial lung diseases in Japan. Atyr collects an $8 million up-front payment and is eligible to bank up to $167 million more if development, regulatory and sales milestones are met, as well as tiered royalties on net sales. Atyr is enrolling a proof-of-concept phase Ib/IIa trial evaluating ATYR-1923 in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis, with data expected by the middle of this year.

Novo Repair invests in Mutabilis, IBT Vaccines to help cross ‘desert of death’ antibiotics market

LONDON – Novo Repair has made new investments of $12 million, bringing the total invested by the specialist anti-infectives venture capital fund since it was set up two years ago to plug the gap in the early stage pipeline to $48 million. The largest investment is $8 million in Mutabilis SA, of Paris, which is developing drugs against gram-negative infections. Repair (Replenish and Enabling the Pipeline for Anti-infective Resistance) also is putting $3.9 million into the Integrated Biotherapeutics Inc. subsidiary IBT Vaccines, of Rockville, Md., to advance development of IBT-V02, a vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus. The two investments bring the number of companies backed by Repair, a fund established by the Novo Nordisk Foundation of Copenhagen, Denmark, to eight. Collectively, those are developing four small molecules, two vaccines, one peptide and one oligonucleotide drug.

Cobra genome may yield new antivenoms, venom-based drugs

A reference genome from the Indian cobra compiled in an international collaborative study should lead to the development of new safer and more effective antivenoms, while the elucidated genome and predicted associated proteome may be a powerful platform for studies of venomous snakes. The comprehensive catalog of venom proteins presented in the study could also facilitate the development of drugs for the treatment of hypertension, pain and other disorders, the researchers reported in the Jan. 6, 2020, edition of Nature Genetics.

U.K. group issues CID trial recommendations to accelerate access to innovative drugs

LONDON – A high level U.K. group, involving industry, academia, patients, health technology assessment and regulatory representatives, has set out guidelines for designing complex cancer trials and is calling for their rapid implementation to reduce clinical development timelines. The aim is to replace the traditional phase I to IV drug development pathway with innovative protocols that combine multiple questions within a single study. The guidelines, published today in the British Journal of Cancer, appear just after the new U.K. government that was elected in December announced it will put forward a medicines and medical devices bill, with the aim of ensuring faster access to innovative products.

Australia implements opioid reforms to deal with 150 hospitalizations per day

PERTH, Australia – Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration is putting in place a number of opioid reforms to clamp down on the use of opioids to deal with increasing deaths and hospitalizations from the use of those drugs. The new reforms include tightening the indications for products, introducing smaller pack sizes for some immediate-release opioids and updating consumer medicines information to align with the new requirements. Pharmaceutical opioids are now responsible for far more deaths and hospitalizations in Australia than illegal opioids such as heroin, the TGA said.

Also in the news

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