A choppy year for Amgen Inc. may be smoothing out after the U.S. District Court of New Jersey ruled that patents for Sandoz Inc.'s biosimilar, Erelzi (etanercept-szzs), a potential competitor to Amgen's highly lucrative arthritis treatment Enbrel (etanercept), should never have been granted. Read More
The Canadian government took its first big step in laying the groundwork for a national pharmacare program Friday when it finalized amendments to its 1987 Patented Medicines Regulations. Read More
LONDON – The largest-ever genomics study of Clostridium difficile has found an emerging new species of the bacterium is selected to thrive on a Western sugar-rich diet and to produce high levels of resistant spores, adapting it to maximize transmission in hospitals and other health care facilities. Read More
HONG KONG – South Korea is the third biggest pharmaceutical market in Asia following China and Japan. Even though it accounts for 1.8% of the global pharmaceutical market, the country aims to launch at least two blockbuster drugs by 2030. Backed by massive support from the government, Korea's biopharmaceutical industry is focusing on R&D, production and out-licensing to make high-value new drugs. Read More
The era of big data might still be in its infancy, but payers are already dealing with a deluge of bits and bytes that threatens to overwhelm their ability to keep up with recent developments in medical science. Clynt Taylor, CEO of Intervention Insights Inc., of Burlington, Mass., told BioWorld that payers are starting to see the light when it comes to reacting to data that suggest a shift in coverage policy, but that over time, payers will replace those fixed policies with a data-driven approach that adapts to patients' needs in real time. Read More
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Biotime Inc., of Carlsbad, Calif., said it rebranded as Lineage Cell Therapeutics Inc. to better reflect its cell therapy platform. The company's NYSE American ticker changed to LCTX effective at Monday's market opening, with shares dropping 2 cents to close at 90 cents. Read More
Biovie Inc., of Los Angeles, revised the terms of its upcoming IPO. The firm plans to raise $15 million by offering 1.3 million shares at a price of $11.44. Biovie intends to trade under the ticker BIVI. Thinkequity is the sole bookrunner on the deal, expected to price this week. Read More
Evolus Inc., of Newport Beach, Calif., reported that second-quarter net revenue was $2.3 million and recognized upon delivery of Jeuveau (prabotulinumtoxinA-xvfs) for injection to customers. The gross margin was 71.4% and may fluctuate in the future due to various marketing programs, the company said. Read More
Stand Up to Cancer Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research launched a "dream team" to investigate a new way to treat metastatic breast cancer by making it impossible for the cancer cells to manufacture the proteins they need to continue to spread. The team will receive up to CA$6 million (US$4.5 million), with the first phase of CA$2 million supporting an initial clinical trial. Read More
Stopped early for favorable results, an African trial testing four Ebola drugs has found two of the therapies, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s REGN-EB3 and the NIH-developed MAb-114, gave Ebola-infected participants a greater chance of survival than either Gilead Sciences Inc.'s remdesivir or Zmapp (Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., Defryus Inc.), considered the standard of care based on the previous Prevail II trial. Read More
