CLEVELAND – Addressing the state of health care innovation at the 2016 Medical Innovation Summit sponsored by Cleveland Clinic Innovations, a diverse panel of executives from disparate segments of the health care system agreed on one general principle: The industry is changing rapidly and in ways that look different from the face of innovation in any other industry.
Addressing the state of health care innovation at the 2016 Medical Innovation Summit sponsored by Cleveland Clinic Innovations, a diverse panel of executives from disparate segments of the health care system agreed on one general principle: The industry is changing rapidly and in ways that look different from the face of innovation in any other industry.
Quietly launched three years ago, Blackthorn Therapeutics Inc. declared its intention to tackle neurobehavioral disorders in a big way, closing a $40 million series A led by founding investor Arch Venture Partners with support from Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JLABS)-JJDC Inc., Altitude Life Science Ventures, Mercury Fund, Alexandria Real Estate Equities and an undisclosed crossover fund.
In 2008, Eli Lilly and Co. picked up the pieces of Imclone Systems Inc. following a failed hostile takeover bid from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Olaratumab (IMC-3G3, LY-3012207) – an early stage asset during that $6.5-billion deal, whose centerpiece was the EGFR inhibitor Erbitux (cetuximab) – on Wednesday gained accelerated approval from the FDA to treat adults with soft tissue sarcoma (STS).
Merck & Co. Inc. declared a phase III win with its antiviral, letermovir, to treat cytomegalovirus (CMV), reporting the therapy met the primary endpoint in the global, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled study.
When it comes to patient assistance programs (PAPs), the biopharma industry is tenacious. Seeking help with copay assistance or no-cost access to Gilead Sciences Inc.'s medications to treat HIV or hepatitis C virus?
True North Therapeutics Inc. took advantage of "incredibly strong momentum" following disclosure of initial data from an ongoing phase Ib study of its lead complement inhibitor, TNT009, in cold agglutinin disease (CAD) to lasso an oversubscribed $45 million series D financing, according to CEO Nancy Stagliano.
"If you can't afford your medicine, Astrazeneca may be able to help." Millions of U.S. consumers hear and read those words every day in direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads from the London-based pharma and similar verbiage from its cohorts.
Although the development program for fexapotide (NX-1207) was encumbered by previous failure and threatened to go into extra innings – Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp. completed seven U.S. phase III trials, by its count – the company appeared to round third base and head for home after reporting success in the long-term repeated injection group from the phase III program for its lead candidate, designed to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and localized prostate cancer.
Merck & Co. Inc.'s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) continued to shine in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in data presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2016 Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. The anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) therapy showed superior overall survival (OS) at 18 months compared to docetaxel in patients with metastatic NSCLC previously treated with platinum-containing chemotherapy whose tumors expressed programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) – measured as tumor proportion score (TPS) of 1 percent or more – as well as those with high levels of PD-L1 expression (TPS of 50 percent or more).
