Monarc Bionetworks, of Palo Alto, Calif., said it initiated a strategic integration with the drug development platform of Roivant Sciences Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland. Monarc's team has built disease-specific patient network applications and online tools that prequalify and engage patients during protocol development prior to study initiation. Read More
Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Washington, reported net product sales of $43.6 million for the first quarter. Sales of Hetlioz (tasimelteon), approved of non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder, reached $25.4 million, up 26 percent from the same period last year, while sales of antipsychotic drug Fanapt (iloperidone) totaled $18.2 million, up 5 percent over the first quarter of 2017. Read More
Foresite Capital, of San Francisco, closed Fund IV, its largest to date, with $668 million in capital commitments, bringing the firm to $2 billion in assets under management. Read More
NEW DELHI, India – The World Bank and India have signed a $125 million loan agreement in April, under which the former pledged to support India's national initiative toward innovative biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. Read More
HONG KONG – While the South Korean government's pricing regime is helping to make drugs more affordable in the country, it is also slowing the value growth of the pharmaceutical market and pressuring the sales of innovative drugs. Read More
Third Rock Ventures added Casma Therapeutics Inc. to its string of biopharma startups, loading the Cambridge, Mass.-based company with a $58.5 million series A to exploit autophagy for the design of drugs targeting lysosomal storage, muscle and inflammatory diseases along with neurodegeneration – for starters, at least. Read More
Coming off a strong first quarter, in which sales of cabozantinib solidly bested Street expectations, Exelixis Inc. made another move to expand its early stage pipeline via a collaboration with multispecific antibody firm Invenra Inc. The two will work together using Invenra's B-Body technology platform to identify candidates for treating cancer. Read More
Putting drug prices front and center at the Food and Drug Law Institute's (FDLI) annual conference Thursday, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb took on some of the current rules and restrictions that prevent true market-based pricing and competition. Read More
