Researchers believe that being able to generate an effective immune response against intractable brain cancers could be the key to prolonging the current dismal survival statistics that patients face following diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Immunotherapies, using cancer vaccines and gene therapy approaches, have in early testing yielded encouraging results leading to the hope that they will eventually become integrated into the current standard of care for this serious disease.
With a median overall survival of a little more than a year and five-year survival rates just barely in the single digits, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is among one of the deadliest forms of cancer.
With a median overall survival of a little more than a year and five-year survival rates just barely in the single digits, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is among one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Unfortunately, there are still, as yet, very few effective treatment options for GBM patients. Developing new therapies has, unfortunately, proved challenging, as a new report published this month by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) identifies.
When Celgene Corp. reported that it was shelling out a whopping $710 million up front to little known privately held Nogra Pharma Ltd. to develop and commercialize GED-0301, an oral antisense DNA oligonucleotide targeting Smad7 mRNA for the treatment of moderate to severe Crohn's disease (CD), eyebrows were raised by analysts who follow the company.
It certainly wasn't a good week for equity investors with macroeconomic factors weighing heavily on the capital markets and major indices giving back all the gains they had made so far this year. Not surprisingly, the biotech sector found itself dragged down in the vortex. A market correction had always been anticipated, but it didn't ameliorate how deep the markets tumbled as investors rushed to sell their equities.
After several years in the doldrums, the Canadian biotechnology industry is beginning to slowly rebound. This is due in part to a ripple effect from the red hot biotech industry in the U.S., which has spilled over positive vibes to Canadian investors who have started to take an interest in the sector once again.
For the history and numbers buffs among us, the industry hit an important milestone by the close of the third quarter last week. Public and private biotech companies have raised a collective $25 billion so far this year. That massive amount vaults the total into second place in the amount of financing dollars raised each year over the past 20 years.
When the curtain closed on the third quarter, 67 global private biotech companies developing biotherapeutics had successfully completed transactions in the period, according to data compiled by BioWorld Snapshots, for a combined total of approximately $1.2 million from the 63 companies that disclosed terms of their deals. That amount, however, represented a significant 33 percent drop from the $1.8 billion raised from 74 deals during the second quarter of 2014.
Late Friday Atlanta-based Alimera Sciences Inc. received the green light from the FDA for its Iluvien implant, indicated for diabetic macular edema (DME) in patients who have been previously treated with a course of corticosteroids and did not have a clinically significant rise in intraocular pressure.
Slowly but surely the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now (GAIN) Act introduced a couple of years ago is starting to exert a positive influence in the quest for the globally recognized urgent need for new antimicrobial therapies. Companies are taking advantage of all the legislation offers, including the FDA's Qualified Infectious Disease Products (QIDP) designation, which allows companies to achieve fast track status, priority review and extended exclusivity for subsequently approved drugs.
