Researchers at National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taipei have developed a new stem cell-based treatment modality, which may prevent damage to the growth phase of hair follicles due to cancer therapies. The findings may lead to the first effective treatment for preventing hair loss in cancer patients.
LONDON – Europe's drug discovery supremo, Evotec AG has nailed its colors to the AI mast, making a €15 million (US$17.6 million) investment in artificial intelligence specialist Exscientia Ltd.
BOSTON – How to get around venture capital (VC) firms when raising money in a company's early days yielded a lively panel discussion among alternative funders who explored various routes.
History did not repeat itself for cannabinoid developer Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc. A month after shares (NASDAQ:ZYNE) of the Devon, Pa.-based company lost more than half their value following a primary endpoint miss in the phase II study of lead candidate cannabidiol (CBD) gel ZYN-002, which failed to reduce focal seizures in adults with epilepsy, Zynerba rebounded in a big way with top-line findings from the open-label exploratory phase II FAB-C (Treatment of Fragile X Syndrome Anxiety and Behavioral Challenges with CBD) trial evaluating the same agent in pediatric and adolescent patients with fragile X syndrome (FXS).
PTC Therapeutics Inc.'s bid to convince members of the FDA's Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee that it should recommend approval of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) drug Translarna (ataluren) failed on Thursday, with 10 out of 11 members agreeing that, although it's possible the drug may be effective, the data are inconclusive and more work needs to be done.
DUBLIN – Three firms made a late addition to the harvest this year. Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Inc, Nightstar Therapeutics plc and Nucana plc priced IPOs late Thursday, raising $302.5 million in aggregate and taking the total raised from IPOs in the third quarter to $965 million.
HONG KONG Amgen Inc. and Simcere Pharmaceutical Group have entered into an agreement to develop and commercialize four biosimilars for the Chinese market.
DUBLIN – For too many cancer patients, therapy still means no more than prolonging the inevitable. Cancer drug developers are proud to trot out numbers detailing objective response rates to novel drug candidates, along with progression-free survival and overall survival data. They're not shy about charging high prices for their product offerings either. But the grim reality is that five-year survival rates for many cancers – including lung, liver and esophageal – are still well below 50 percent, even if cancer death rates continue to decline in the U.S. and other high-income countries.
SUZHOU, China – At the 3rd DIA China Drug Discovery Innovation this week a director from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) outlined the government's proposed plans to accelerate approvals for the collection of human genetic resources in keeping with the central government's overall strategy to support innovative drug development.
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