Differences in dosing, duration and the disability of patients likely led to Pfizer Inc.'s phase II fizzle with its 5-hydroxytryptamine6 (5-HT6) serotonin receptor antagonist in Alzheimer's disease (AD), said Axovant Sciences Ltd. CEO Vivek Ramaswamy, who distinguished the pharma giant's experiment from the phase III effort by his firm with RVT-101, which also targets 5-HT6.
Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. chalked up a development and commercial deal for andexanet alfa in Japan with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) and Pfizer Inc., under which the compound will be explored further as an antidote for the latter pair’s therapy Eliquis (apixaban) and the “mega-blockbuster class” that includes other Factor Xa inhibitors as well.
Amgen Inc.'s investor-pleasing fourth quarter and full 2015 earnings won the customary nods from analysts, who promptly zeroed in on the next major milestone – phase III data in osteoporosis with romosozumab in postmenopausal women, and how those "romo" results might stack up against the bone drug abaloparatide from Radius Health Inc., which has already made a strong phase III showing against Forteo (teriparatide, Eli Lilly and Co.) in the trial called ACTIVE.
Timelines for finding a vaccine against the fast-spreading Zika virus are vastly overstated, Samuel Bogoch, founder and chairman of Replikins Ltd., told BioWorld Today.
With the takeover of Fluorinov Pharma Inc. comes a set of preclinical oncology compounds plus a fluorine-chemistry platform that "we can use to crank out new chemical entities [NCEs] to just about any target that seems promising," Trillium Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Niclas Stiernholm told BioWorld Today.
Finishing its $51 million series A round begun about five months ago, Adicet Bio Inc. is taking over Applied Immune Technologies Ltd. (AIT), and aims to push its universal immune cell therapy platform toward the clinic.
Futility findings by the data safety monitoring board from the phase II ALPINE pancreatic cancer trial with anti-Notch 2/3 therapy tarextumab cast into doubt the predictive value of phase Ib studies with similar Notch-targeting candidates, and Oncomed Pharmaceuticals Inc.
The mosquito-borne, headline-making, brain birth defect-causing Zika virus has reached the U.S., and “I suspect this summer it’s going to be a major problem,” Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Joseph Kim told BioWorld Today. Cases of infection already have been confirmed in Colorado, Texas, Hawaii, Florida and Illinois, each involving foreign travel (with pregnant women among them).
Partnered with Xenex Disinfection Services LLC to bring the ultraviolet (UV) ray-based “germ-zapping robot” to Africa, Serenus Biotherapeutics Inc. launched the system at a scientific meeting in November, and CEO Menghis Bairu told BioWorld Today that the firm also is making progress on plans to bring drugs to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Philogen SpA's "idea is to stop [melanoma] when you have metastases, but only at the skin," co-founder Dario Neri told BioWorld Today, as his firm launched its pivotal trial in about 200 patients testing Darleukin against stage IIIb/c disease, which "almost invariably" worsens to often-fatal stage IV within two years.
