Last year wasn't the best for venture capital investments in U.S. private companies, with the total for the year headed in the wrong direction, failing to match 2015 levels. (See BioWorld Today, Jan. 4, 2017.)
To push the envelope – increasing survival and decreasing toxicity – companies are harnessing new technology and mechanisms of action to develop the next generation of oncology drugs.
To push the envelope – increasing survival and decreasing toxicity – companies are harnessing new technology and mechanisms of action to develop the next generation of oncology drugs.
For children and adults with peanut allergies, the only therapeutic option comes from post-exposure treatment with epinephrine, such as Epipen (Mylan NV) or Auvi-q (Kaleo Inc.), to dampen the anaphylactic reaction. Even then, 100 to 150 people die from food allergies each year.
Life sciences companies are increasingly becoming targets of securities fraud lawsuits. After being flat from 2014 to 2015 at 39 cases filed in each year, the number of class action fraud lawsuits against life sciences companies increased more than 70 percent in 2016 to 67 cases, according to a new report from law firm Dechert LLP.
In its annual Drug Trend Report, pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts Holding Co. reported that the net price Express Scripts' clients paid for drugs increased 2.5 percent in 2016 compared to the year prior, 27 percent smaller increase than in 2015.
Earlier this month, Evotec AG and MaRS Innovation announced the launch of Fibrocor Therapeutics LP. The startup joins the growing number of companies working on drugs to fight fibrosis.
It's been a long road for Generx (Ad5FGF-4), a gene therapy designed to express fibroblast growth factor-4 (FGF-4) to increase vascularization in the heart.
Venture capital investors gave it the old college try, but apparently they spent more time watching bowl games than investing in U.S. private biopharmaceutical companies in the fourth quarter.
