Following November’s equity investment that brought it a 14% ownership in Protomer Technologies Inc., Eli Lilly and Co. has acquired the privately held company engineering protein and peptide therapeutics that sense molecular activators. If development and commercial milestones are met, the deal could be worth more than $1 billion. Read More
It’s more than 20 years since the tobacco firm Philip Morris International Inc. commissioned a controversial research paper, “Public Finance Balance of Smoking in the Czech Republic,” which infamously argued that smokers cut state health care expenditure by dying early. The paper was considered an outrage and led to a high-profile apology from the company, after being widely derided by politicians and commentators internationally. The company’s July 9 proposal to buy the respiratory diseases firm Vectura Group plc for $1.2 billion is already looking just as provocative according to U.K. politicians and anti-smoking groups, who are calling for the government to intervene to stop it going ahead. Read More
Approval could come next year for Furoscix from Scpharmaceuticals Inc. (Scpharma), a solution of the standard-of-care heart failure diuretic furosemide formulated to a neutral pH and designed for outpatient use. Read More
DUBLIN – Poolbeg Pharma plc raised £25 million (US$35 million) in an IPO on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to pursue development of antiviral drugs. The company priced the offering at 10 pence per share, which implies a valuation of £50 million. Shares are due to commence trading on Monday, July 19. Read More
Hoping to get Germany to drop its opposition to a proposed World Trade Organization (WTO) waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights, several U.S. lawmakers have asked to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she’s in Washington for a July 15 summit with President Joe Biden. Read More
The lack of data surrounding the efficacy of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines against the Delta variant has had many questioning them, especially after a recent study showed that one of those vaccines, Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s Coronavac, was less effective than Pfizer Inc. and Biontech SE’s Comirnaty in Chile. Read More
Harbour Biomed Therapeutics Ltd. said its anti-FcRn monoclonal antibody, batoclimab, generated top-line phase II data in generalized myasthenia gravis, and the company expects to move into a phase III study by the end of this year, with final data reported in April 2022. Read More
Putting the 2019 CREATES Act to the test, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. filed suit July 13 against Philadelphia-based Amicus Therapeutics Inc. Read More
New hires and promotions in the biopharma industry, including: Akero, Anticancer, Beyondspring, Catalyst, Entasis, Immuneering, Lung, Tessera, Xortx, Vera. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Abcam, Bicycle, Hoth, Hutchmed, Ionis, M8, Palisade Bio, Pionyr, RDIF, UCB. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Akeso, Arca, Artax, AVM, Evgen, Innovent, Moleculin, Oryzon, Targovax, Valo. Read More
