The U.K. government has announced £121 million (US$148 million) in funding to reboot the commercial clinical trials system after a sharp decline saw the number of industry-sponsored studies falling by 44% from 2017 to 2021.
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has gone back on efforts to get its medicine, Asimtufii (aripiprazole), a long-acting maintenance treatment for schizophrenia, approved in Europe, after the EMA gave a provisional negative opinion.
The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) may look like domestic affair, but the drug price controls it is bringing in are set to impact the biopharma sector across the globe.
The IPO market in Europe is firmly shut and not a single company went public in the first quarter of 2023. The impact of this is trickling down to limit access to venture capital for biotechs.
A heart-protective cardiac myosin inhibitor and two biologics – one for a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and another for an inflammatory skin condition – were among the therapies recommended for approval by the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use this week.
The industry has hit out at the European Commission’s proposals for new pharmaceuticals regulations, saying they risk “sabotaging” life sciences in Europe. “Today’s proposals manage to undermine research and development in Europe while failing to address access to medicines for patients,” said Nathalie Moll, director general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.
Swiss biotech firms raised CHF1.3 billion (US$1.5 billion) in equity and debt financing in 2022, a fall of 60% from the previous year’s total of over CHF3.3 billion. But it’s still ahead of historic pre-pandemic levels of funding.
The European Commission is bringing out rules designed to further simplify and streamline procedures for pharmaceutical companies planning on merging under EU Merger Regulation rules. The commission assesses mergers and acquisitions of companies whose turnover exceeds certain thresholds to prevent concentrations that would significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area or in a substantial part of it.
Pharma companies who choose to take advantage of the EMA’s Prime scheme, which is designed to streamline and accelerate the development and approval process for priority drugs, will now be able to meet with the agency about a year before they file for approval.