Announcing two licensing deals with Swiss pharma giant Novartis AG, Shanghai-based Argo Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. said on Jan. 7 that it stands to gain up to $4.165 billion for two of its cardiovascular assets combined. Marking the “first significant overseas out-licensing transaction in the RNAi field from a Chinese biotech company,” the deal includes an up-front payment of $185 million from Novartis to Argo.
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH partnered with Newcastle University and the University of Edinburgh to fund a £30 million (US$38 million) study into liver cirrhosis in a bid to provide scientists with new insights into liver health. The partners hope that the study will not only enhance the understanding of nonalcoholic or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (NASH/MASH) cirrhosis, but also help identify translational biomarkers using a cutting-edge approach called single-cell RNA sequencing to accelerate the development of future therapies.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), characterized by vasoconstriction and pulmonary vascular remodeling, has a 10% annual mortality rate among patients due to right heart failure. There are genetic variants known to impact the risk of PAH, but susceptibility from epigenetic changes is poorly understood.
Announcing two licensing deals with Swiss pharma giant Novartis AG, Shanghai-based Argo Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. said on Jan. 7 that it stands to gain up to $4.165 billion for two of its cardiovascular assets combined. Marking the “first significant overseas out-licensing transaction in the RNAi field from a Chinese biotech company,” the deal includes an up-front payment of $185 million from Novartis to Argo.
Medtronic plc received CE mark for its latest miniature, leadless pacemakers, the Micra AV2 and Micra VR2. According to the company, they are the world's smallest pacemakers, provide a longer battery life, and are easier to program than previous Micra pacemakers, while maintaining the benefits of their predecessors such as reduced complications compared to traditional pacemakers.
Shares of Applied Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:APLT) dropped 36% Jan. 5 on news that its oral aldose reductase inhibitor, AT-001 (caficrestat), failed to reach statistical significance in a phase III study in patients with diabetic cardiomyopathy. The New York-based firm, however, pointed to positive trends in the Arise-HF study that could offer a path forward, albeit via a partner.
Cardiomech AS raised $13 million in fresh capital via a convertible loan agreement that will go towards developing its transcatheter mitral valve chordal repair technology. The round was heavily oversubscribed, indicating investors' expectations that the company’s technology may be a first-line therapy for patients suffering from degenerative mitral regurgitation.
Intravascular lithotripsy generally scores well for removal of calcification, but the U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is offering only limited endorsement of this procedure for peripheral artery disease (PAD). NICE said one of the problems with the evidence is that this procedure is often conducted in conjunction with other procedures, and thus the agency will have to see more definitive evidence before an unequivocal endorsement is justified.
Carmat SA recently reported a software update for its bioprosthetic total artificial heart Aeson device that will significantly improve its safety profile. In the past, the company had to suspend implantations of its device following issues around quality. With the enhancements, the Aeson software will be able to detect signals of malfunctions in real time and adapt the control of the prosthesis so that its performance is not affected.
Atherosclerosis occurs in arterial regions with disturbed blood flow, where endothelial cells are exposed to stress, thus activating proatherogenic signals that promote endothelial dysfunction and reprogramming, among others. Researchers have identified heart development protein with EGF like domains 1 (HEG1) as a flow-sensitive gene in murine artery endothelial cells.
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