Patrick Cassells, of Fulshear, Texas, was sentenced March 6 to more than seven years in prison and ordered to pay more than $25 million in restitution and forfeiture after he pleaded guilty nearly two years ago to one count of health care fraud that involved the three durable medical equipment companies he owned and operated.
Eli Lilly and Co. will invest $500 million to support South Korea’s biopharmaceutical industry over the next five years, following high-level talks March 9 between Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and Lilly Executive Vice President Patrik Jonsson.
Taiwan plans to invest NT$24 billion (US$752 million) over four years to bolster national biosecurity, expand domestic pharmaceutical production and safeguard against global supply chain volatility.
The regulatory clouds that have been darkening the U.S. FDA landscape of late for Uniqure NV’s gene therapy AMT-130 in Huntington’s disease may be parting a bit with the announced departure of Vinay Prasad as director of the agency’s CBER at the end of April.
Perimeter Medical Imaging AI Inc. secured FDA premarket approval for Claire, its AI-powered imaging device which detects difficult-to-see cancer during breast-conserving surgery. Claire combines AI with wide-field optical coherence tomography to provide surgeons with high-resolution, real-time views of excised tumor margins, to reduce the need for re-operations.
Japan has approved the world’s first therapies derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), marking a major milestone for regenerative medicine and, potentially, a turning point in treating Parkinson’s disease.
The K-health MIRAE Initiative, also known as Korean ARPA-H, announced plans to allocate about ₩162 billion (US$110 million) in nine new projects over the next five years, with a focus on strengthening national health security.
Roche Holding AG pledged to invest ₩710 billion (US$484.6 million) in South Korea over the next five years, positioning the country as a major global hub for clinical trials. The near $500 million agreement inked with the Korean government will bring Roche’s clinical trials for common or incurable diseases and innovative biopharmaceutical products to the country.
Pepgen Inc. is forging ahead with tests of PGN-EDODM1 in other territories after the U.S. FDA placed a partial hold on the Freedom2-DM1 phase II trial, a multiple ascending-dose, randomized, placebo-controlled experiment in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1).
China’s National Medical Products Administration has approved Asieris Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s cold light photodynamic drug-device combination product, Cevira (APL-1702, hexaminolevulinate hydrochloride), which is used as a nonsurgical therapy for treating patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2.