Just over a month after scoring U.S. FDA clearance for dry eye disease therapy Miebo (perfluorohexyloctane), Bausch + Lomb Corp. is adding Xiidra (lifitegrast) to its arsenal in the same indication as part of the potential $2.5 billion deal with Novartis AG, which is divesting its “front-of-eye” ophthalmology assets.
Having raised HK$791 million (US$101 million) through an IPO in Hong Kong, Laekna Inc., which develops therapies for cancer and liver fibrosis, now plans to focus on further developing its two lead products in-licensed from Novartis and push its pipeline of 14 products forward.
Novartis AG has synthesized naphthyridinone derivatives acting as K(ir) 3.1/3.4 (GIRK1/4; KCNJ3/5) IKACh channel blockers reported to be useful for the treatment of bradyrhythmic arrhythmia, bradycardia, atrial fibrillation, heart block, hypotension, primary aldosteronism, sick sinus syndrome and vasovagal syncope, among others.
After almost 30 years in business, Sangamo Therapeutics Inc. is finally nearing a BLA filing for one of its programs. But the company, wounded by the recent loss of alliances with Biogen Inc. and Novartis AG, is also running out of cash and investor interest – and it badly needs a new deal to stay afloat.
On a quest to boost its renal diseases pipeline with two late-stage drugs, Novartis AG has announced plans to acquire precision medicines drug developer Chinook Therapeutics Inc., offering up to $3.5 billion. The move drove Chinook’s shares (NASDAQ:KDNY) up by 58.3%, or $13.99, on June 12, closing at $37.98.
Novartis AG has identified diaminocyclopentylpyridine derivatives acting as proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin-type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors and thus reported to be useful for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipidemia, hypertriglyceridemia, sitosterolemia, vascular inflammation, atherosclerosis, peripheral vascular and coronary heart disease, among others.
Positive data from two studies treating early breast cancer with CDK4/6 inhibitors presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago showed progress is helping patients live longer. The two treatments and companies, Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Co., are nearly head-to-head competitors in the niche indication.
ITM SE has closed a €255 million (US$272 million) round to prepare for market entry, as its lead targeted radiopharmaceutical ITM-11 nears the end of phase III development in the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors of gastroenteric or pancreatic origin.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case that tests the notion that artificial intelligence (AI) can be an inventor, a development that may be nothing more than the beginning of the AI-as-inventor story under U.S. law. The Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO) April 25 webinar on the subject included some remarks that AI could be used to produce a tsunami of potentially duplicative patent applications, but the event demonstrated that there is almost no at-large support for AI-as-inventor, suggesting that the status quo will stand for the time being.
