It's a double whammy for cardiovascular drug developers, according to a new study from the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. It's taking longer to get a cardiovascular drug through the clinic and onto market. And more drugs are failing along the way.

Both Summit Therapeutics plc and Insmed Inc. have taken wiping out bacteria to the next level, releasing separate clinical trial data last week that show their drugs target specific bacteria and reach hard-to-treat places in the lung that bacteria hide, respectively.

There are about 8 million people in the U.S. with gout, characterized by high uric acid levels, which lead to painful crystal deposits in joints. About half of those are seeking treatment, mostly with allopurinol, which is available as a generic, but about half of those are unable to reach the target of 6 mg/dl of uric acid, the level at which uric acid becomes insoluble, forming crystals which cause about three to six flares per year.

Prescriptions for Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Allergan plc’s Linzess (linaclotide) have been written for 1.5 million unique patients with chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) since the drug was launched at the end of 2012.

Prescriptions for Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Allergan plc's Linzess (linaclotide) have been written for 1.5 million unique patients with chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC) and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) since the drug was launched at the end of 2012.

Spending on R&D by midmarket biotech companies increased 18 percent from 2015 to 2016, from an average of $65.9 million to an average of $80.6 million, according to the 2017 BDO Biotech Briefing, a report from BDO USA LLP analyzing the 10-K SEC filings from companies in the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) with revenue of less than $300 million.

Recombinant clotting factors have been the mainstay treatments for hemophilia, but there are a growing number of companies developing hemophilia drugs using novel mechanisms of action. Those companies will get a look at the competition later this month at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) conference as they vie for patients with unmet needs, including those with antibodies that inhibit the clotting factors and as treatments that can be used for prophylaxis.

SAN DIEGO – A pair of clinical trial presentations at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 77th Scientific Sessions on Monday, both with simultaneous publications in The New England Journal of Medicine, established the cardiovascular risk of two already-approved diabetes drugs.

SAN DIEGO – Given the high burden of type 1 diabetes with decades of insulin shots as well as renal and cardiovascular complications associated with the disease, preventing or even just delaying the onset of type 1 diabetes has been a long-term focus of researchers.

SAN DIEGO – At a joint session of the American Society of Nephrology and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as part of the ADA's 77th Scientific Sessions, nephrologists presented data on how diabetes drugs in the SGLT2, GLP-1 receptor agonists and DPP-4 inhibitors classes affected diabetes patients with diabetic kidney disease as well as how the drugs affect the kidneys of patients that might eventually develop the disease.