DUBLIN – Shares in Innate Pharma SA rose by as much as 39 percent during trading Tuesday as the French biotech and its partner, Astrazeneca plc, rejigged their existing oncology alliance, which now guarantees a minimum $241.85 million in cash to Innate, with the potential for a whole lot more – almost $5.2 billion – to come in option fees and milestone payments. Read More
DUBLIN – Enterome SA is getting $50 million up front plus up to $640 million more in clinical development, regulatory and commercial milestones in a global licensing and co-development deal with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., under which the two companies will jointly take forward its lead drug, EB-8018, which is currently in development for Crohn's disease. Osaka, Japan-based Takeda has also committed to invest $15 million in Paris-based Enterome at a future date. Read More
Maybe those Pfizer Inc. neuroscience assets weren't so lackluster after all. The New York-based pharma and deep-pocketed partner Bain Capital LP placed a portfolio of eight disclosed preclinical and clinical central nervous system (CNS) candidates into the newco Cerevel Therapeutics LLC and backed them with $350 million in committed capital from funds associated with Bain Capital Private Equity and Bain Capital Life Sciences Read More
Zymeworks Inc. has been recruited by Denmark's Leo Pharma A/S to help discover and develop new bispecific antibodies for dermatology indications. That the deal's value could exceed $480 million might be the headliner for companies that have yet to capture big pharma's attention. Zymeworks, by contrast, has already inked technology deals with Merck & Co. Inc., Glaxosmithkline plc, Janssen Biotech Inc., Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd., Eli Lilly and Co. and Celgene Corp. Read More
Stoke Therapeutics Inc. CEO Edward Kaye told BioWorld that the company cranked its quest "into turbocharge mode, once we had the animal data [in June] that suggest we were having some pretty significant efficacy results," and clinical work is expected to begin by 2020. Read More
With the growing globalization of clinical trials, greater complexity of study designs and the move from site-centric to patient-centric studies, issues of data integrity loom larger than ever. And those issues continue to evolve, the FDA's David Burrow said Tuesday as he opened the first FDA/MHRA joint workshop on good clinical practices. Read More
HONG KONG – China biopharmaceutical firm Zai Lab Ltd. bagged marketing approval from Hong Kong's Department of Health this week for its PARP inhibitor, Zejula (niraparib), targeting patients with platinum-sensitive, relapsed, high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer. It is intended for second-line maintenance use for adult ovarian cancer patients. Read More
CLEVELAND - How are telemedicine and wearable technologies changing health care and how physicians see patients? That question was the focus of a panel that examined how such emerging technology can play a role in improving primary care. The panel took place during the Cleveland Clinic's 2018 Medical Innovation Summit and was part of the a series of discussions on how technologies, including digital health, are disrupting health care. Read More
Cel-Sci Corp., of Vienna, Va., said it received almost $8 million through the exercise of warrants to purchase shares of the company's common stock during the past three months. As of Oct. 22, the company said it has 28.27 million shares outstanding. Read More
Alkermes plc, of Dublin, reported total revenues of $248.7 million for the third quarter, which included sales of alcohol dependence drug Vivitrol (naltrexone for extended-release injectable suspension) totaling $79.9 million and sales of schizophrenia drug Aristada (aripiprazole lauroxil) totaling $36.1 million. Read More
Purdue Pharma LP, of Stamford, Conn., plans to acquire Spinethera Inc., of Plymouth, Minn., to gain access to Spinethera's products and technology platforms, including its lead asset, SX-600, a microsphere suspension of dexamethasone being developed as an epidural administration for low back pain. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Read More
The FDA, in partnership with international regulatory and law enforcement agencies, this week targeted 465 websites, operated by seven networks, that illegally sell potentially dangerous, unapproved versions of opioid, oncology and antiviral prescription drugs to U.S. consumers. The effort was part of Operation Pangea XI, a global cooperative effort led by Interpol. Read More
