CHICAGO – Given the fact that President Obama was in Chicago for his own purposes on Friday and Saturday, leading to posted warnings about possible travel delays in the conference shuttles, the first astounding bit of news out of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting may have been that all speakers made it to the opening press briefing. Read More
PharmAthene Inc., the jilted pharma left at the merger altar six years ago by SIGA Technologies Inc., is in line for a court-ordered payback, but it may have to wait through yet another court proceeding before it gets satisfaction. Read More
Genzyme Corp.'s once-daily oral multiple sclerosis drug Aubagio (teriflunomide) hit the two main clinical endpoints in a confirmatory pivotal Phase III trial: an annualized reduction in relapse rate and a reduction in the risk of sustained accumulation of disability. Read More
Just over a month after the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 7 to 4, with two abstentions, that Marqibo (vincristine sulfate liposome injection) demonstrated a favorable risk-benefit profile as a third-line treatment for adults with Philadelphia chromosome-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Talon Therapeutics Inc. reported the enrollment and dosing of the first patient. Read More
• Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Aliso Viejo, Calif., reported preliminary results from the PRISM patient registry to define pseudobulbar affect (PBA) prevalence and its quality-of-life impact, with results from the 3,647 patients with underlying neurologic conditions – Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, stroke and traumatic brain injury – showing that 37.3 percent had a positive screening score for PBA. Read More
• Oncothyreon Inc., of Seattle, said it started a Phase I/II trial of PX-866, its small-molecule PI3K inhibitor, in combination with Zelboraf (vemurafenib, Roche AG). Read More
• Ranbaxy Laboratories Inc., of Princeton, N.J., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., is planning to launch Absorica (isotretinoin) in the fourth quarter, now that the FDA has approved the drug for the treatment of severe recalcitrant nodular acne. Absorica is partnered with Mississauga, Ontario-based Cipher Pharmaceuticals Inc., which will receive royalties on net sales. Read More
Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles have identified the mutation that is behind IMAGe – a life-threatening disease of stunted growth – in the gene for Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, another life-threatening disorder characterized by rapid cell division that leads to excessive growth and, ultimately, death by cancer. Read More
