Galapagos NV gave its investors some wobbles during its R&D day in New York Tuesday, revealing that its first-in-class, free fatty acid receptor 2 (FFA2) inhibitor, GLPG974, failed to demonstrate clinical benefit in ulcerative colitis and that recruitment delays will push back top-line data from two phase IIb trials of selective JAK1 inhibitor GLPG634 in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Read More
That social media guidance drugmakers have been clamoring for over the past five years? It's finally here. Two draft guidances dealing with social media issues are scheduled for publication in Wednesday's Federal Register. Read More
TOKYO – The controversy in Japan surrounding Novartis Pharma KK's blood pressure drug Diovan (valsartan) grew more intense over the last week following the arrest of a former employee and a raid of the company's offices. Read More
LONDON – The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to put in €75 million (US$101.8 million) to directly fund six research programs at pharma company UCB SA, as part of a new "at-risk co-development funding" instrument under which the bank will invest €24 billion in R&D projects over the next seven years. Read More
Sub-Saharan Africa's economic takeoff has carried a growing number of the region's 1.1 billion people ahead on a wave of innovation, bringing new advances in mobile commerce, bioagriculture and green energy. Innovative drugs from the West, however, have arrived much more slowly. Read More
Ipierian Inc. spinout True North Therapeutics Inc. will use $22 million from its series A round to push TNT009, its lead candidate, through early stage studies in autoantibody-driven rare diseases mediated by the complement system. Read More
Silenseed Ltd. followed hot on the heels of Vascular Biogenics Ltd. (VBL) to become the fourth Israeli biotech this year to seek a listing on a U.S. exchange. Filing as an emerging growth company, Silenseed is seeking to raise up to $36.4 million in its initial public offering (IPO) and to list on Nasdaq as RNAI. Read More
LONDON – Ablynx NV's caplacizumab is in line to be the first drug for treating rare blood coagulation disorder acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), after the company reported positive phase II results. Read More
Discovery Laboratories Inc., of Warrington, Pa. realized the final $1.9 million of a $2.4 million fast track SBIR grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Read More
GW Pharmaceuticals plc, of London, said physician reported efficacy and safety data on 27 children and young adults with treatment-resistant epilepsy who have been treated with GW's investigational cannabidiol product candidate, Epidiolex, for a period of 12 weeks. Read More
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, and Eli Lilly and Co., of Indianapolis, said they resubmitted the new drug application for sodium glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor empagliflozin for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes. Read More
Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, and H. Lundbeck A/S, of Copenhagen, reported data from a head-to-head study of Brintellix (vortioxetine) vs. escitalopram in patients with well-treated major depressive disorder experiencing treatment-emergent sexual dysfunction. Read More
