Meiragtx Holdings plc CEO Alexandria Forbes told BioWorld that the "very strong financial position" conferred by her firm's deal with New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson arm Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. means that more money can go to the Parkinson's disease (PD) program. "We haven't given guidance about how long our cash is going to last," she said, but the London-based firm now has "multiple years" worth of resources. Read More
Fast-moving Caelum Biosciences Inc. said Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., acting to diversify its rare hematology portfolio, is betting $60 million in equity and development funding on CAEL-101 for light chain (AL) amyloidosis, also gaining an option to buy the young company if phase II data on the drug warrant for "pre-negotiated economics." Read More
Insulin products are seemingly the new poster child for biopharma greed in America. The status was confirmed Wednesday when leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to the CEOs of Eli Lilly and Co., Novo Nordisk A/S and Sanofi SA. Together, the three companies have pretty much a lock on the U.S. insulin market. Read More
DUBLIN – Sylentis SA remained upbeat on the potential of its candidate drug, tivanisiran, to make a meaningful difference to patients with dry eye disease (DED), despite the failure of the drug to hit either of two primary endpoints in a phase III trial. Read More
Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. stayed mostly mum on details regarding the FDA's complete response letter (CRL) related to the NDA for apomorphine sublingual film (APL-130277) to treat "off" episodes in Parkinson's disease (PD). Read More
The easiest explanation for the funding woes of women's health is that women are women and venture capitalists are primarily men. But the aphorism that "there is always a well-known solution to every human problem – neat, plausible and wrong," sometimes ascribed to Mark Twain and sometimes to H.L Mencken, applies. Read More
Immunicum AB, of Stockholm, said it implemented a share issue with preferential rights for the company's existing shareholders. Following this rights issue, the number of shares and votes have increased by 20.38 million, which has increased its share capital by SEK1 million (US$110,518). Read More
Celgene Corp., of Summit, N.J., reported fourth-quarter net product sales of $4.036 billion and total revenue of $4.037 billion. Full-year net product sales were $15.265 billion, while total revenue for 2018 was $15.281 billion. The majority of sales came from Revlimid (lenalidomide), which increased 16 percent to $2.549 billion for the fourth quarter, with $1.729 billion coming from U.S. sales. For the full year, Revlimid sales reached $9.685 billion, an increase of 18 percent year over year. Read More
Vistagen Therapeutics Inc., of South San Francisco, reported preclinical data for AV-101, an oral N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor glycine B antagonist, showing the drug increased neurogenesis, defined by an increased number of cells containing Ki67, in the hippocampus of rodents following oral daily dosing for 14 to 16 days. The data will be presented at an upcoming psychiatry conference. Read More
