DUBLIN – Translate Bio Inc. is the first beneficiary to gain from Sanofi SA’s massive $11.7 billion addition to its balance sheet, following its recent disposal of its holdings in long-time partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. Lexington, Mass.-based Translate Bio is getting $300 million up front, another $125 million in equity investment and up to $1.9 billion in milestones under a major expansion of an existing agreement with Paris-based Sanofi to develop mRNA-based vaccines for infectious disease. Read More
Gilead Sciences Inc. has acquired a 49.9% equity interest in privately held Pionyr Immunotherapeutics Inc., which could receive up to $1.15 billion in potential future milestone payments in the deal. Read More
The importance of artificial intelligence and machine learning continues to be acknowledged by drug development companies. Recently, to help accelerate the discovery of therapies to treat COVID-19, several deals have been forged to deploy those tools. Read More
Bolstered by the success of CTLA4 and PD-(L)1 antibodies, companies are exploring new targets to encourage the immune system to attack tumors. "While these agents have demonstrated efficacy in a proportion of cancer patients, there clearly is room for improvement to lift the tail of the curve," Michele Teng, associate professor at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, told the audience at the clinical trials plenary session of the American Association for Cancer Research Virtual Annual Meeting II, where researchers presented data from a pair of immunotherapies looking to build on the success targeting PD-(L)1. Read More
Almost all solid tumors are treated with multiple drugs because the combinations have better efficacy than single-agent treatments. But finding those combinations can be difficult in an ever-growing sea of pair-wise combinations. Read More
The bad news is, yes, the U.S. is in for a second wave of COVID-19, which is expected to hit during the upcoming flu season. The good news is the nation is much better prepared for the next wave, the NIH’s Anthony Fauci told a House Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday. Read More
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee met again June 23 to discuss the federal government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and one clear signal that emerged from the hearing is that Congress will have to provide annual funding to build a sustainable infrastructure for vaccine development and manufacture if the nation is to deal appropriately with the next pandemic. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: ABM, Achilles, Bioinvent, Fibrogen, Kadmon, Myovant, Oncolytics, Oppilan, Principio, Reneo, Seelos, Sunesis, Vaccitech. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Immunovative, Mirror Biologics, Karuna, Karyopharm, Marker, Myovant, Novaremed, Pharmacyclics, Polynoma, Reneo, Renibus, Santhera. Read More
