According to an analysis conducted by BioWorld of the third-quarter 2019 financial reports filed by the top 100 public biopharmaceutical companies ranked by market cap, and excluding big pharma companies, the amount that was invested in research and development (R&D) in the period increased almost 70% compared to the same period in 2018.
Bowing to congressional pressure, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Wednesday filed suit against Gilead Sciences Inc. for infringing government patents related to the use of HIV drugs Truvada and Descovy for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Gilead Sciences Inc.'s third-quarter earnings, though deemed satisfactory, brought lukewarm responses from Wall Street, with analysts such as J.P. Morgan's Cory Kasimov writing in a report that "these days the company's quarterly progress seems to take a back seat to how they [will] ultimately deploy their substantial amount of capital. The Galapagos deal notwithstanding, this feels like a long wait that's quite frankly getting a bit stale." Still reverberating is the arrangement this summer with Galapagos NV, of Mechelen, Belgium, which signed a 10-year research and development pact with Gilead under which Galapagos is getting $3.95 billion up front in hard cash plus another $1.1 billion in equity, in return for which Gilead will essentially have an option to ex-European rights on everything emanating from the firm's clinical and preclinical pipeline.
HONG KONG – Taiwan's National Health Insurance Administration has added Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Biktarvy (bictegravir + emtricitabine + tenofovir alafenamide), a once-daily single tablet for the treatment of adults with HIV-1, to its list of reimbursed medicines.
HONG KONG – Taiwan's National Health Insurance Administration has added Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Biktarvy (bictegravir + emtricitabine + tenofovir alafenamide), a once-daily single tablet for the treatment of adults with HIV-1, to its list of reimbursed medicines.
WASHINGTON – Since 2012, Americans at risk of HIV-1 infection from sex have had just a single option for reducing their odds of acquiring it: a daily dose of Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate). Now, about a year before Truvada goes generic, at least some of them have a second option in Gilead's Descovy (emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide). On Thursday, the FDA approved Descovy for HIV-1 pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, to reduce the risk of HIV-1 infection from sex, excluding those who have receptive vaginal sex.
In a historic first, all prisoners and people covered through Medicaid in Louisiana got access last week to Asegua Therapeutics LLC's hepatitis C drug, even if they were in the early stages of the disease, thanks to a modified subscription program that's likely to serve as a model for other states in the U.S. looking for ways to pay for pricey cures and treatments emerging from the pipeline.
Durect Corp. (NASDAQ: DRXX) got a solid bump after announcing it granted Gilead Sciences Inc. exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize a long-acting injectable HIV product created with Durect's platform, Saber, in a deal that could generate more than $300 million for Durect.
Kronos Bio Inc. closed a $105 million series A preferred stock financing, shored up by a board composed of longtime pharma executives that includes the company CEO and president, Norbert Bischofberger, the former Gilead Sciences Inc. R&D executive vice president and chief science officer.
DUBLIN – In what is a truly transformative deal for each company, Gilead Sciences Inc. and Galapagos NV are entering a 10-year research and development alliance under which Galapagos is getting $3.95 billion up front in hard cash plus another $1.1 billion in equity, in return for which Gilead will essentially have an option to ex-European rights on everything emanating from the Belgium firm's clinical and preclinical pipeline. That includes six clinical-stage programs, another 20 in preclinical research and whatever else Galapagos may bring forward – or bring in through its own business development efforts – over the term of the agreement.
