A phase II trial of an experimental respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine created by Novavax Inc. prevented symptoms of the common and sometimes deadly virus in as many as 46 percent of older adults, giving the company a strong foundation ahead of a planned pivotal phase III trial that could start as early as the fourth quarter and boding well for another program testing the vaccine to protect infants via maternal immunization scheduled to report data in September.
Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. reported higher-than-expected second quarter revenues, helped by royalties on U.S. sales of obesity drug Contrave (naltrexone and bupropion).
Avax Technologies Inc., a Philadelphia-based immunotherapy specialist that ran into financing troubles in 2009, has settled debts it owed the Cancer Treatment Centers of America Inc. (CTCA) and Firebird Management LLC, repaying both parties with equity as it advances plans to re-launch a pivotal clinical study of M-Vax, its candidate immunotherapy for melanoma, and explore resuming a trial of O-Vax, a potential immunotherapeutic vaccine to treat ovarian cancer.
Surging global sales of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s blockbuster Eylea (aflibercept) drove company revenues 50 percent higher during the second quarter, leading it to raise full-year guidance for Eylea's growth.
Rising Kalydeco (ivacaftor) sales carried Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s second quarter revenue 20 percent higher, giving the company confidence to raise projected sales of the cystic fibrosis (CF) drug as it anticipates expanding its geographic reach and label to reach additional patients.
Contravir Pharmaceuticals Inc. has enrolled the first patient in what could be the sole pivotal trial of FV-100, an oral herpes zoster therapy, that it hopes to market as a treatment for both shingles and the reduction of post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), a painful shingles-associated condition that becomes more common as people age.
Amgen Inc. shares (NASDAQ:AMGN) briefly hit a record high of $181.81 on Friday as the drugmaker reported a higher-than-expected second quarter profit, driven in part by strong sales of Enbrel (etanercept), Prolia and Xgeva (denosumab) and cost-cutting. The drugmaker also raised its full-year guidance as it moved to launch new products, such as the world’s first approved PCSK9 inhibitor, Repatha (evolocumab).
Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to pay mid-single-digit royalties on futures sales of Iclusig (ponatinib) to PDL Biopharma Inc. in exchange for up to $200 million in financing intended to accelerate testing of brigatinib, an anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor it is developing to treat non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to continue its ongoing initiatives supporting both drugs.
Sanofi SA has pledged to invest up to $2.2 billion in a new collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. in which the longtime partners will jointly develop and commercialize the programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) inhibitor REGN-2810 and other new immuno-oncology antibodies.
Biosimilars developer Oncobiologics Inc. has landed a $31 million financing to support continued expansion and development of its platform and pipeline, which includes clinical-stage biosimilars of Humira (adalimumab, Abbvie Inc.), Avastin (bevacizumab, Roche AG), and nine other preclinical candidates poised to take on off-patent biologics.
