Before the curtains even closed on the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, attention is turning to the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) 75th Scientific Sessions, which begin Friday in Boston. Abstract titles suggest presentations will address not only the raft of current drug development efforts and large cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOT) that have weighed on biopharmas in the diabetes space but also some of the emerging technologies to treat the disease. Read More
DUBLIN – Newly published efficacy data for TA-8995, Dezima Pharma BV's cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor, confirmed the company's claim last year that it may have in its hands the most potent molecule in that emerging drug class of cholesterol control agents. Read More
Midatech Pharma plc swung away from its core nanomedicine platform technology but picked up a toehold in North America and the scaffold of a commercial infrastructure by inking an agreement to acquire Dara Biosciences Inc. Read More
Hoping to dislodge patent trolls, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bipartisan patent reform bill Thursday that attempts to thwart frivolous lawsuits while balancing the interests of various industry sectors. But the PATENT Act has a ways to go before it's stamped with the life science industry's seal of approval. Read More
Complete with an assay that helps select eligible patients, the approved prostate-cancer (PC) drug Xtandi (enzalutamide) from Medivation Inc. and partner Astellas Pharma Inc. turned up hopeful phase II results in androgen-receptor (AR)-positive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), detailed at the recently concluded meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. Read More
Kineta Inc., of Seattle, presented preclinical in vitro and animal data at the Novel Antiviral Therapies for Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses: Bench to Beside Conference in Austin, Texas, from a class of molecules discovered by Kineta and broadly inhibit influenza A and B, respiratory syncytial virus and coronavirus, which include Middle East respiratory syndrome. Read More
Pharmacyclics LLC, of Sunnyvale, Calif., an Abbvie company, reported that Imbruvica (ibrutibin) improved progression-free survival, the primary endpoint, as well as multiple secondary endpoints, including overall survival and overall response rate, in treatment-naïve patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) in the final analysis of the phase III RESONATE-2 (PCYC-1115) trial. Read More
Biotie Therapies Oyj, of Turku, Finland, said it has begun marketing of a proposed U.S. public offering of $50 million American depositary shares (ADSs). The company plans to use net proceeds from the offering, together with a portion of its current liquid assets, to fund a phase III double-blind trial (and extension study) of its Parkinson's disease drug, tozadenant (SYN115). Read More
