Pharma
-
Danaher Continues M&A Streak, Buying Life Sciences Firm Abcam for $5.7B
Abcam’s acquisition comes two months after its board announced the exploration of strategic alternatives that could include the sale of the company. Danaher beat out at least 20 companies that were potential buyers of the life sciences tools and antibody development firm.
-
Genesis Therapeutics Rakes In $200M For AI-Powered Drug Discovery
Genesis Therapeutics recently joined the growing list of AI-powered drug discovery startups receiving venture funding this year. The company closed a $200 million Series B financing round, taking its total funding to date to more than $280 million.
-
Creating an Omnichannel Customer Journey in Healthcare
Improving Customer Experience and Conversion in Healthcare & Life Sciences
-
Precision Bio Offloads Lead Cell Therapy Program in Pivot to In Vivo Gene Editing
Imugene gains global rights to Precision BioSciences’ most advanced program, an allogeneic cell therapy for advanced cases of blood cancer. Precision will now focus on in vivo gene editing therapies, some of which is partnered with Novartis and Eli Lilly.
-
Gilead Partners With Startup Getting Its Tentacles Into New Biologic Drug Territory
Gilead Sciences is partnering with Tentarix Biotherapeutics, a startup developing multifunctional antibody drugs that it calls “Tentacles.” Tentarix’s technology offers the potential to selectively address targets in cancer and inflammation.
-
Pfizer Expands to Multiple Myeloma With FDA Approval for New Antibody Drug
Oncology is already a big piece of Pfizer’s drug lineup. The portfolio is expanding to multiple myeloma with FDA approval of Elrexfio, a bispecific antibody that targets the cancer protein BCMA.
-
Harmony Bio’s Zynerba Buyout Brings Cannabinoid That Doesn’t Spark Euphoria
Zynerba Pharmaceuticals’ lead drug candidate is designed to bring the therapeutic effect of cannabinoids without also causing euphoric effects. The synthetic cannabinoid in a topical gel formulation includes none of the psychoactive compounds from the cannabis plant.
-
FDA Approves J&J Combo Drug for Prostate Cancers With Certain Genetic Signature
Johnson & Johnson’s Akeega is approved for treating advanced prostate cancer with a BRCA mutation. The drug, which interferes with a way cancer cells repair themselves, will compete against recently approved drugs from Pfizer and partners AstraZeneca and Merck.
-
VC Report: Biotech Financings Fall, M&A Activity Expected to Pick Up
Biotech startups raised $2.6 billion globally in the second quarter of this year, but that’s down nearly 46% compared to the same period last year, according to a report from Pitchbook. Capital is harder to find, and the report projects an uptick in M&A activity as companies run out of cash.
-
Novo Nordisk Aims to Succeed Where Sanofi Faltered Drugging a Weight-Loss Target
Novo Nordisk isn’t putting all of its weight loss drug hopes in the same basket. Its acquisition of Inversago Pharma for up to $1 billion will bring a biotech whose lead drug candidate has early clinical trial data showing significant weight loss.
-
J&J Broadens Scope in Multiple Myeloma, Winning FDA Approval for New Drug
Johnson & Johnson’s stable of multiple myeloma drugs has grown to five products with the FDA approval of Talvey. The bispecific antibody is the first in a new class of new drugs designed to go after the novel multiple myeloma target GPRC5D.
-
Nektar Sues Eli Lilly, Claiming the Big Pharma Breached Contract to Favor Another Drug
“Botched math” in calculating clinical data for an autoimmune disease drug is one of the allegations Nektar Therapeutics makes in a legal complaint against Eli Lilly. The biotech claims its former partner tried to disadvantage the asset in order to advance development of another drug it acquired in a billion dollar deal.
-
Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy Posts Trial Data Supporting the Drug as Way to Lower Heart Risks
Novo Nordisk weight-loss drug Wegovy reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events by 20% in a large clinical trial. The company said the results support expanding the drug’s label, but the looming question is whether the data will persuade payers to cover the pricey chronic therapy.
-
Novel Social Anxiety Disorder Drug’s Data Relieve Stress on a Beleaguered Biotech
Vistagen Therapeutics’ fast-acting nasal spray drug, fasedienol, hit primary and secondary goals of an abbreviated late-stage study in social anxiety disorder. Vistagen’s stock price rocketed skyward on the results, which support progression to another Phase 3 study.
-
Astellas Drug Acquired in $5.9B Deal Wins FDA Approval in Vision-Loss Disorder
Izervay, a drug developed by Astellas Pharma subsidiary Iveric Bio, is now the second approved therapy for the degenerative vision-loss disorder geographic atrophy. The regulatory decision comes as safety concerns emerge around the first therapy for the disease, an Apellis Pharmaceuticals product.
-
Drug and Digital Technologies Are Part of NIH’s Long Covid Clinical Trial Plans
Long Covid continues to afflict patients and mystify clinicians. The National Institutes of Health is trying to identify potential treatments and it is launching a series of clinical trials that will assess a wide range of therapeutic interventions.
