Companion diagnostics-focused Celcuity Inc. CEO Brian Sullivan said the deal with Pfizer Inc. for rights to pan-PI3K/mTOR inhibitor gedatolisib was “an organically developed opportunity, because of the research we had done on gedatolisib” in the course of investigating PI3K inhibitors. “We hadn’t shifted our strategy and said, ‘Oh, let’s start in-licensing drugs.’”
As COVID-19 vaccinations continue to roll out, momentum builds with strong phase III data for what could become the fourth and fifth walls of defense in the U.S.
The voluminous American Rescue Plan – the second largest stimulus package in U.S. history – has something for everyone. Almost. The $1.9 trillion package that passed the Senate over the weekend and is expected to be passed by the House March 9 failed to extend the current moratorium, set to expire April 1, on the 2% Medicare sequestration.
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee needed two days of hearings to get through a spending measure that provided the FDA with $500 million for its part in the government response. The CDC would receive $7.5 billion for vaccine distribution and tracking, all developments that ran parallel to an announcement that another 200 million doses of vaccine will be delivered by the end of July at a cost of $3.7 billion.
Preventive medicine hasn’t always had the backing of hard data, but research into genomics at the U.S. National Institutes of Health may soon change that.
In a task made more challenging by COVID-19, the EU and the World Health Organization are rolling out separate plans to take down cancer in Europe. The European Commission Feb. 3 announced its Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the first comprehensive European cancer initiative in nearly 30 years. A day later, WHO/Europe launched its United Action Against Cancer, billing it as a “pan-European cancer movement” to galvanize support and cooperation from grassroots to governments with the long-term goal of eliminating cancer as a life-threatening disease in the region.
While the Biden administration’s America Rescue Plan began its journey through Congress Feb. 3 as the next U.S. effort to address the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers came together to identify steps to improve vaccine distribution and curb ongoing supply shortages.
Roche Holding AG has revealed a partnership with Moderna Inc. involving the use of the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S antibody test in the latter’s mRNA-1273 vaccine research trials. The news comes shortly after Roche received emergency use authorization from the U.S. FDA for the antibody test.
LONDON – Retinai Medicine AG reported a three-year master agreement with Novartis AG to apply its artificial intelligence (AI) tools in ophthalmology clinical trials. The first project will look at how machine learning can be used to speed up and improve the interpretation of optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
PERTH, Australia – Melbourne-based Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is acquiring Scintec Diagnostics GmbH subsidiary Therapharm GmbH in a deal worth AU$33 million (US$24.24 million) plus royalties.
Zug, Switzerland-based Therapharm has developed a portfolio of radiolabeled diagnostic and therapeutic products, and the deal brings Telix a new targeting asset in hematology, Telix CEO Chris Behrenbruch told analysts during a Dec. 1 conference call.