Mice with glioblastoma showed increased survival when they were treated with a liver X receptor (LXR) agonist, LXR-623 (Pfizer Inc.), which has undergone phase I testing. Read More

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Watertown, Mass., said it dosed the first patient in IGNITE4, its new phase III trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of intravenous (I.V.) eravacycline compared to meropenem in complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAIs). Read More

Egalet Corp., of Wayne, Pa., said the FDA will not meet its Oct. 14 PDUFA date for Arymo ER (morphine sulfate), with the agency indicating that it needs more time, as it has with other applications for abuse-deterrent opioids. Read More

Axogen Inc., of Alachua, Fla., closed its public offering of about 2.3 million shares at $7.50 apiece, with underwriters exercising in full their overallotment option of 350,000 additional shares. Read More

TOKYO – China Resources Pharmaceutical Group (CR Pharma) launched an IPO roadshow in Hong Kong as it looks to raise as much as $2 billion in capital. The company is a part of China Resources Holdings, a state-owned Chinese conglomerate with a wide distribution network across the world's most populous nation. Read More

SHANGHAI – China's startup biotech scene has gained a new entrant: Transthera Biosciences Co. Ltd., of Nanjing, Jiangsu. Transthera has received $10 million, from a group of investors led by Morningside Ventures, to discover and develop new chemical entities (NCEs) for oncology, cardiovascular diseases and other indications. Read More

HONG KONG – A Chinese study has for the first time provided preclinical proof of concept that the targeting of tyrosine protein 6 (PTK6), also known as breast tumor kinase (BRK), with a small-molecule kinase inhibitor may represent a promising new breast cancer treatment strategy. Read More

LONDON – The EMA has followed the FDA's lead and recommended conditional approval of Abbvie Inc.'s Venclexta (venetoclax) for treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), on the basis of a single-arm pivotal phase II study. Read More

Unpacking the complex U.S. drug pricing system to fix it starts with understanding how it works. It's become clear that many who make the rules are woefully unclear about a system that's rife with a lack of transparency, multilevel negotiations, hidden markups, cost shares, usual and customary prices, and a host of patient assistance programs (PAPs). Read More

"If you can't afford your medicine, Astrazeneca may be able to help." Millions of U.S. consumers hear and read those words every day in direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads from the London-based pharma and similar verbiage from its cohorts. Read More