Collaboration has become increasingly important in drug development. There's a consortium for seemingly every disease as well as those designed to increase clinical trial efficiency and large-scale screening of compounds.
On Thursday, cystic fibrosis powerhouse Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported solid first-quarter sales of its drugs, Kalydeco (ivacaftor) and Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor), designed to modulate CFTR, which is mutated in cystic fibrosis patients, but it was the pipeline of next-generation drugs that received the most attention.
The European Patent Office (EPO) recently issued a broad patent for the use of CRISPR/Cas9 single-guide gene editing system to Emmanuelle Charpentier, regents of the University of California and University of Vienna.
Last week, the European Patent Office (EPO) issued a broad patent for the use of CRISPR/Cas9 single-guide gene editing system to Emmanuelle Charpentier, regents of the University of California and University of Vienna.
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.
