Ravgen Inc.’s patent litigation strategy could add another $100 million to the company’s coffers, assuming enhanced damages in its suit against Laboratory Corp. of American Holdings (Labcorp) awarded on May 12 are sustained on appeal. The additional damages are on top of the $272.5 million awarded in September for “egregious” violations of Ravgen’s patents on non-invasive prenatal testing methods.
A novel bispecific immunotherapy developed by Roche AG to target pancreatic cancer showed promising results combined with radiation therapy in preclinical trials carried out at the University of Colorado.
Researchers in Australia have developed new cancer cell line models for pediatric cancers with the lowest survival rates, with a focus on high-risk central nervous system tumors such as glioblastoma.
Are deals such as M&As between biotechs and big pharma becoming a thing of the past? That was a key question posed during the opening keynote at this year’s BIO-Europe Spring conference in Basel, Switzerland. Although Susanne Kreutz, global head of corporate and business development of Basel-based Novartis AG, doesn’t think this is the case, she told delegates that she believes M&A will increasingly focus in on “high-quality, high-impact, late-stage assets, where reimbursement is securable and where regulatory paths appear.”
A new blood test developed by Durin Technologies Inc. and Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine detected the presence of Alzheimer’s disease pathology in nearly all asymptomatic patients who went on to developed cognitive impairment or dementia, a study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found. The test uses eight autoantibody biomarkers to identify patients with the disease at pre-symptomatic, prodromal and mild-moderate stages of disease.
Noema Pharma AG raised CHF103 million (US$110.3 million) in a series B round to continue moving forward its bulging pipeline of clinical stage assets in development for multiple central nervous system disorders. The Basel, Switzerland-based company is now funded through early 2025, by which time it will have at least some clinical data that will help it to determine its next steps.
As several key revenue-driving products fall off patent in coming years, pharmaceutical companies are increasingly focused on mechanisms by which they can draw innovation to them. What launched as the Partner of Choice organization, for example, has now become the newly named Pfizer Ignite model – an end-to-end engine designed to bring innovation to the pharmaceutical company in return for services.
Roche Holding AG’s investigational monoclonal antibody, crovalimab, which inhibits part of the innate immune system in patients with the rare blood condition paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria, met its co-primary efficacy endpoints in a phase III trial that will form the basis of its approval submissions worldwide.
It’s the season for reevaluation as companies weed out programs that don’t offer much promise. At the head of the line is Sanofi SA’s once-potential myasthenia gravis blockbuster tolebrutinib. A partial clinical hold on the phase III study is part of the reasoning for stopping its development. But so is competition, the company said. Other companies eliminating development programs include Roche Holding AG, Gilead Sciences Inc., AB Science SA and Merck & Co. Inc.
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has been surfacing more regularly in scientific journals lately, as drug developers – such names as Biohaven Inc., Roche Holding AG and Scholar Rock Inc. – continue to search for improved therapies directed at the condition, one that takes in a group of hereditary, motor neuron-destroying diseases.
