HONG KONG – Japan has become the first country in the world to approve Veklury (remdesivir), Gilead Sciences Inc.’s experimental drug, to treat COVID-19. The fast approval was based on U.S. data and that country’s emergency use of the drug to tackle the pandemic, although it is unclear whether the drug is safe or effective for treating COVID-19. Read More
In the rush to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, integral parts of the equation are being overlooked in the U.S., according to a whistleblower complaint filed this week by Rick Bright over his removal as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Even if millions of doses of vaccine are ready to go by January, as the NIH’s Anthony Fauci a few weeks ago said could happen, there may not be enough needles and syringes to deliver those doses. Read More
Keen to address a rare vision-limiting disorder endured by nearly 1.9 million people globally, ophthalmology specialist Santen Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has negotiated a $252 million ex-U.S. licensing deal for Jcyte Inc.'s Jcell, a human retinal progenitor cell therapy initially aimed at treating retinitis pigmentosa. Read More
“All along our guidance has been that, look, we are doing multiple open-label studies with the intent of picking a winner,” said Protagonist Therapeutics Inc. CEO Dinesh Patel during a conference call with investors. “Today, we have picked a winner by a huge margin” in the shape of PTG-300, an injectable hepcidin mimetic for the rare blood cancer polycythemia vera (PV). Read More
BEIJING – Beijing-headquartered Canbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. is to add another source of income after Chinese regulators approved Nerlynx (neratinib) to be marketed for the extended adjuvant treatment of adult patients with early stage HER2-positive breast cancer following adjuvant trastuzumab-based therapy. Read More
HONG KONG – South Korea’s Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc. wrapped up the week by announcing its awaited IND clearance for its epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, BBT-176, for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from the country’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) on May 7. Read More
The challenges to deploy diagnostic and surveillance testing for the COVID-19 pandemic will persist at least until a vaccine is ready if not well beyond that milestone. In our series “Diagnosing the state of COVID-19 testing,” BioWorld MedTechexplores the complexities of developing accurate, properly regulated tests to help bring the world back online with confidence.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Amgen, Cytodyn, Daewoong, Five Prime, Flexion, Kadmon, Lundbeck, Millendo, Protagonist, Revance, Savara, Scholar Rock. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Acadia, Arcturus, Beroni, Fortress, Oncogenuity, Sorrento, Zyus. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Amgen, Arch, Bridge, Cynata, Cytokinetics, Junshi, Pluristem, Redhill, Sesen, Takeda. Read More
While COVID-19 dominated the clinical data news during the month of April, with 45% due to trial delays, suspensions and terminations, and another 12% focused on therapeutic and vaccine development targeting the deadly infection, a number of companies still posted positive phase III data for other indications and are preparing for regulatory filings and commercialization. Read More
