PERTH, Australia – Australia's medical research institutes generated more than 18,000 research contracts and collaborations in 2016, which resulted in more than AU$1.9 billion (US$1.37 billion) in income, according to a new survey conducted by Australia's Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. Read More
DUBLIN – The Heptares unit of Sosei Group Corp. is spinning out two drug development programs for narcolepsy into two standalone companies, Orexia Ltd. and Inexia Ltd., which have received aggregate funding commitments of up to €40 million (US$45.8 million) from the London-based venture capital fund Medicxi. Read More
Eisai Co. Ltd. and Purdue Pharma LP, partners in the development and commercialization of a dual orexin receptor antagonist for insomnia, said the drug improved subjective measures of both sleep onset and maintenance at the end of the six-month, placebo-controlled treatment period of a large phase III study. The data were incorporated into the pair's December FDA new drug application for lemborexant, which Eisai said could potentially reduce the risk of nighttime falls. Read More
HONG KONG – Chinese drug regulators have granted the first marketing clearance to a homegrown dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor for treating type 2 diabetes, developed by Jiangsu Aosaikang Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. The saxagliptin tablet, which comes in 5 mg or 2.5 mg, is registered as a category IV chemical drug – a generic with equivalent quality and efficacy to the originator's drugs that are already marketed in China. Read More
Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. stayed mostly mum on details regarding the FDA's complete response letter (CRL) related to the NDA for apomorphine sublingual film (APL-130277) to treat "off" episodes in Parkinson's disease (PD). Read More
Aslan Pharmaceuticals Pte. Ltd., of Singapore, said it is undertaking a strategic corporate restructuring in order to focus its resources on lead clinical programs including: varlitinib in biliary tract cancer (BTC); ASLAN-003, targeting acute myeloid leukemia (AML); and ASLAN-004, focused on atopic dermatitis. Read More
