Audentes Therapeutics Inc. CEO Matthew Patterson early last month characterized results with lead compound AT-132 in X-linked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM) as “unprecedented in neuromuscular disease,” and the value apparently wasn’t lost on Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., which signed a deal worth about $3 billion to take over the company. Shares of Audentes (NASDAQ:BOLD) closed at $58.93, up $30.32, or 106%, on word of the buyout – which pairs the two firms’ gene therapy expertise and is slated to close in the first quarter of next year – at a cost of $60 per share in cash.
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After being in the doldrums for the majority of the year, public biopharmaceutical companies, it appears, have turned the corner and are now on a major upswing. Read More
With today’s 18-5 vote in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) to send Stephen Hahn’s nomination to the full U.S. Senate, the oncologist who currently serves as chief medical officer at the MD Anderson Cancer Center is just a step away from being confirmed as the next FDA commissioner. Read More
Protagonist Therapeutics Inc. stock (NASDAQ:PTGX) nosedived 47% on Tuesday after the company released preliminary results from its phase II open-label study of PTG-300, an injectable hepcidin mimetic to treat patients with transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia. Read More
New top-line results from a phase III study of Ardelyx Inc.'s tenapanor – recently approved in irritable bowel syndrome – confirmed the drug can also help dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease patients with hyperphosphatemia achieve reduced serum phosphorus levels vs. placebo. Read More
HONG KONG – South Korean company Alteogen Inc. signed a nonexclusive global license agreement with a top 10 global pharmaceutical company for its recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme, ALT-B4, in exchange for an up-front payment of $13 million. Read More
NEW DELHI, India - While India is still an attractive prospect for investment in biotechnology, with plenty of potential waiting to be tapped by investors, the country needs to learn from the successful examples of other countries, including its Asian biotech competitors, according to a new report. Read More
HYDERABAD – India, home to a quarter of the global tuberculosis (TB) cases, plans to enhance its capacity to fight TB drug resistance and bolster susceptibility testing under a new initiative launched by the Geneva-based nonprofit Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND). Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations. Read More
