Already, survival in typically aged multiple myeloma (MM) patients has been pushed to "six, seven, maybe eight or nine years sometimes," Christophe Bianchi, president of Takeda Oncology, told BioWorld Today, and the space "keeps getting more crowded, which is good news for patients." Read More
LONDON – There's no resting on the laurels at Heptares Therapeutics Ltd., which on Monday announced a potential $1.89 billion plus royalties deal with Pfizer Inc. in multiple indications, as a main course to follow last week's $410 million migraine agreement with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Read More
LONDON – The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) will work with Liverpool University on reformulating HIV drugs as nanomedicines, a move the United Nations-funded body said will reduce doses, improve the side effect profile and cut costs for the health care systems of low-and middle-income countries. Read More
The saga that unfolded during last week's Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee (adcom) not only left Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. twisting in the wind as the company awaits the FDA's decision on Kyndrisa (drisapersen), but also raised a bigger question for companies pursuing therapies to treat DMD that link their utility to an effect on the protein dystrophin. Read More
HONG KONG – As a part of efforts to encourage innovation and internationalization of biotech companies, the Chinese government is now actively encouraging outbound investment from Chinese enterprises. Read More
HONG KONG – South Korea's Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning has big plans for the biotech and med-tech industries, with plans to invest tens of millions of dollars into 10 companies. Read More
HONG KONG – A new gene conferring resistance to polymyxins, the last antibiotic defense against resistant microorganisms, has been found to be widespread in Enterobacteriaceae from pigs and patients in southern China, raising fears of emergence of strains of gram-negative bacteria with resistance to all currently available antibiotics. Read More
President Barack Obama signed into law last week an act that ensures drugs scheduled as controlled substances will get their full exclusivity. Under the Improving Regulatory Transparency for New Medical Therapies Act, a drug considered a controlled substance will not be deemed approved until an interim final rule scheduling the drug is issued. Read More
Therapure Biopharma Inc., of Mississauga, Ontario, filed a preliminary prospectus for a proposed IPO with securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada. Read More
Anavex Life Sciences Corp., of New York, said publication of data for ANAVEX 3-71 (formerly AF710B) in Neurodegenerative Diseases provided additional evidence for a positive, upstream effect on reducing synaptic loss, amyloid and tau pathologies, and neuroinflammation for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases. Read More
Colucid Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said more than 50 percent of the migraine patients needed to complete the company's Samurai trial, the first of two pivotal phase III experiments, have now been randomized. Read More
