DUBLIN – By the brutal, binary calculations of Wall Street, Olivier Brandicourt's four-year stint as CEO of Sanofi SA cannot be regarded as a success. The Paris-based pharma firm's stock is down by 18% over the period between April 1, 2015, the day before he took office, and June 6, 2019, the last day prior to the announcement of his departure. Read More
Xeris Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Paul Edick said a fourth-quarter launch of Gvoke (ready-to-use glucagon injection) for severe hypoglycemia is "still doable. Is it now a tad more of a stretch? Yes." His remarks came as investors learned that the PDUFA date for the injector pen has been pushed back by three months, putting the new decision time for the severe hypoglycemia treatment at Sept. 10, 2019. Read More
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. plans to up its gene editing game by expanding an existing collaboration with Crispr Therapeutics AG and acquiring privately held Exonics Therapeutics Inc. to develop therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). Read More
PHILADELPHIA – Big scientific goals, grand partnering ambitions, and a strong tolerance for risk are common hallmarks among the CEOs and founders of emerging platform companies. But what sets platform players apart from other biopharma ventures hasn't always been clear. Setting out to shed some light on the subject during the BIO convention, BioWorld asked the leaders of six dynamic companies about how they think about their businesses and what sets them apart. Read More
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, which closed last week, had fewer standout presentations than in previous years but the many hundreds of studies that were described did serve to demonstrate the sheer volume of clinical cancer research that is currently underway. Read More
DUBLIN – Nerre Therapeutics Ltd. may have missed the primary endpoint of a phase IIb trial of its lead drug, orvepitant, in chronic cough, but clinically relevant and statistically significant signals on three secondary endpoints leave it convinced that it has an active drug on its hands. The company is now seeking an end-of-phase II meeting with the FDA and EMA to determine the next steps for the program. Read More
Edesa Biotech Inc., of Toronto, said the previously disclosed business combination with Stellar Biotechnologies Inc., of Port Hueneme, Calif., which was completed pursuant to a share exchange agreement, has closed. The combined company will focus on the development and advancement of treatments for dermatological and gastrointestinal indications. It will go under the Edesa name and will commence trading Monday on Nasdaq under the ticker EDSA. Read More
Resverlogix Corp., of Calgary, Alberta, said its previously disclosed offering of units of the company has closed. About 3.8 million units were issued at $4 each, raising gross proceeds of about $15.2 million. Read More
Scientists at University Hospital RWTH Aachen have trained a neural network to recognize microsatellite instability (MSI)-high gastrointestinal tumors directly from histology, without the need for genetic or immunochemistry testing. Read More
