Chinese firm Hutchmed Ltd. has out licensed its targeted colorectal cancer drug fruquintinib to Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. as it eyes growth opportunities in the U.S., Europe and Japan in a deal totaling up to $1.13 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Tokyo, Japan-based Takeda will gain an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize the drug in all indications and territories outside of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Read More
A lack of available options for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is driving plenty of development into the indication. The latest data come from Pliant Therapeutics Inc., which posted positive 12-week interim data from 21 participants in the 320-mg dose group’s active arm and eight in the placebo arm in its phase IIa study of PLN-74809 (bexotegrast). Read More
As the FDA has in the past when a court issued an opinion it didn’t agree with, the U.S. agency is trying to limit the fallout from an appellate court ruling in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc. vs. Becerra, which involved the breadth of orphan drug exclusivity, to that case alone. Read More
Vaxxas Pty. Ltd. and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) signed a partnership agreement to develop Vaxxas’ vaccine-patch delivery technology in a project that could end the need for frozen storage of mRNA vaccines. Read More
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a method to measure several thousand metabolites, including proteins, metabolites, inflammatory markers such as cytokines and, to a degree, lipids. “It’s like Theranos, except it works,” corresponding author Michael Snyder, director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford Medicine, told BioWorld. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Altrubio, Astellas, Epicentrx, Hangzhou HiglightII, Hepagene, Immunitybio. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Ammax, Astellas, Beigene, Boehringer Ingelheim, Duality, Eli Lilly, Mirati, Opiant, Revive, Seagen, Sinopharm, Specialised. Read More