SK Bioscience Co. Ltd. won €50 million (₩75.5 billion, US$52.03 million) up front from Sanofi SA to expand an earlier agreement to develop and commercialize novel pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs). The first deal resulted in GBP-410 (SP-0202), its pediatric 21-valent PCV candidate that moved into phase III study last week.
As if the uncertainties surrounding an incoming administration weren’t enough, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision and a potential new avenue of liability for drug and device manufacturers could bring an added level of unpredictability to the sector for 2025.
The U.S. FDA posted another early advisory, this time for the Mini PCNL devices by Trokamed GmbH. The agency noted that these devices should not be used for suction and irrigation of surgical sites, a use for which the device was not cleared in the first place.
The U.S. FDA’s authority was challenged on a number of occasions over the past few decades, but the rate is likely to pick up as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently that the agency cannot take judicial deference for granted any longer. Chad Landmon of the D.C. office of Polsinelli told BioWorld that future litigation against the FDA may extend even to sub-regulatory guidance thanks to the outcome in the case of Loper Bright – a scenario in which industry might carve out a few significant wins in the coming year.
Companies developing brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies certainly stepped up their activities this year with several starting to implant their devices into humans. After decades as an experimental technology pursued exclusively in research settings, BCI devices could be just a few years away from entering clinical practice – and investors are paying attention.
In a deal worth $100 million up front and up to $1.25 billion in milestone payments, Bioarctic AB licensed its pyroglutamate-amyloid-β (pyroglutamate-Aβ) antibody program to Bristol Myers Squibb Co. to advance treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.
A year after Generate Biomedicines Inc. pulled off its $273 million series C financing round, the Flagship Pioneering-spawned and AI-powered protein therapeutics firm drew investment of an undisclosed amount from the Samsung Life Science Fund Dec. 18.
In a deal worth $100 million up front and up to $1.25 billion in milestone payments, Bioarctic AB licensed its pyroglutamate-amyloid-β (pyroglutamate-Aβ) antibody program to Bristol Myers Squibb Co. to advance treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Brett Monia predicted that diagnoses of familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) will “accelerate fairly quickly” now that the firm has gained U.S. FDA clearance for Tryngolza (olezarsen) as an adjunct to diet to reduce triglycerides in adults with the rare form of severe hypertriglyceridemia (sHTG) that can lead to life-threatening acute pancreatitis (AP).
Shares in Zealand Pharma A/S (CO:ZEAL) dropped 22.4% to as low as DKK587 (US$82.16) on Dec. 20, after the U.S. FDA issued a complete response letter (CRL) for glepaglutide in the treatment of short bowel syndrome.