LONDON – Disagreement about the ethical issues around Ebola clinical study designs has seriously affected the ability to test effectiveness of possible vaccines and antiviral drugs during the current epidemic, according to Jeremy Farrar, director of the research charity Wellcome Trust, which has put up more than £10 million (US$15.4 million) of emergency funding for trials. Read More
A few months may not seem that long, but in the high-stakes, litigious world of biopharma, a loss of 57 days of patent protection could translate into hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue, especially if that patent covers a drug commonly used in combination with other HIV antiretrovirals. Read More
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Companies across Southeast Asia are taking multiple steps to develop or attract more innovation and power their biotechnology industries. Read More
BOGOTA, Colombia – Famous for its voluminous red tape, Brazil is now looking to make deals in the biopharmaceutical space a little easier, or at least easier to plan. Read More
HONG KONG – A study led by Singaporean researchers has identified a potent new antibody against the dengue virus, a minimal amount of which is required to neutralize it, which is an important finding that may lead to the development of effective new treatments or vaccines. Read More
In the biopharma space, finding potential new uses for shelved drugs has become a business model unto itself, with proponents touting successes such as AZT – a drug that bombed in cancer trials only to return two decades later as the first approved therapy for HIV – and the National Institutes of Health even endorsing the strategy, setting up the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences as a matchmaker to hook up researchers with failed compounds in 2012. Read More
Serenus Biotherapeutics Inc., of San Francisco, has secured investment of up to $43 million from Malin Corp. plc, of Dublin. Malin will purchase a 41 percent stake in Serenus for $18 million. Read More
strong>Alkermes plc, of Dublin, said it has a new drug candidate, ALKS 7119, for the treatment of agitation in patients with Alzheimer's disease, major depressive disorder (MDD) and other central nervous system indications. Read More
Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc., of Lexington, Mass., provided an update on its planned clinical trial programs in noninfectious anterior uveitis and Sjogren-Larsson Syndrome. Read More
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Tokyo, and its Canadian affiliate said Health Canada approved Jinarc (tolvaptan), a selective vasopressin V2-receptor antagonist, as the first pharmaceutical agent to treat autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Read More
