LONDON – The foundation stone of a system to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines was put in place by the global vaccines summit on June 4, with 12 donors pledging $567 million in seed money for an advance market commitment (AMC) program. Read More
LONDON – After all the controversy and a huge dose of hype, there is no clinical benefit from the use of hydroxychloroquine in patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, according to headline data from a large randomized trial of potential drugs for the infection currently running in the U.K. Read More
BEIJING – Three-year-old Asia-focused startup Everest Medicines Ltd. closed one of the biggest financing rounds in China’s health care market this year, adding $310 million to its war chest. The firm is aiming to advance its late-stage assets in-licensed from global partners to the China market soon. Read More
American depositary shares in CAR T-focused Legend Biotech Corp. (NASDAQ:LEGN), offered in a red hot IPO at $23 each, took off Friday, rising 60.9% to close at $37 per share. Other offerings June 5, a buoyant day for U.S. markets after a surprising drop in unemployment, raised $154 million for cellular trafficking specialist Applied Molecular Transport Inc. and $90 million for Calliditas Therapeutics AB, the developer of an oral formulation of the corticosteroid budesonide. Read More
The FDA has approved Recarbrio (imipenem-cilastatin and relebactam), from Merck & Co. Inc., of Kenilworth, N.J., to treat adults with hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP). Read More
From memory formation to waste clearance, sleep, Dragana Rogulja said, is thought of as “of the brain, by the brain, for the brain.” However, sleep may be necessary for the brain, but the brain is not necessary for sleep. Read More
HONG KONG – Two Chinese biotech companies, Hutchison China Meditech Ltd. (Chi-Med) and Beigene Ltd., are teaming up to evaluate their therapies as combination treatments for several cancers and in different key markets. Read More
BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Healthspan, lifespan affected differently by caloric restriction; Stroke protection effects like night and day; Oncometabolites mask DNA repair signals; Antiviral vaccine protects against myocarditis, diabetes; C12orf49 is new lipid metabolism gene; Base editing gives temporary hearing fix; Simultaneous dual base editing; Nuclear quality control by chaperones; Stress-induced mutagenesis leads to cancer drug resistance. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Arcturus, Aurinia, Avenue, Lysogene, Magenta, Nektar, Novartis, PDS, Tetra. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Abbvie, Aeterna Zentaris, Astrazeneca, Avita Medical, CSL, Engage, Harbour, Healios, Kalytera, Liquidia, Magenta, Novavax, Ryvu, Sorrento, UCB, United Therapeutics. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Baylx, Genmab, Lupin, Macrogenics, Merck, Moleculin, Mylan, Oncolys, Pharmaessentia, Polyneuron. Read More
Money raised through biopharma financings so far in 2020 is double the amount raised within the same timeframe of 2019, partly due to two large financings completed in May by Sanofi SA, which is working on candidates to treat or prevent COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Read More
