In the latest deal from the burgeoning antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) space, Eisai Co. Ltd. and privately held Bliss Biopharmaceutical (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd. reached a development and commercialization agreement that could be worth up to $2 billion. The massive collaboration is the eighth largest so far this year and one of three that involve ADCs in the year’s top 10 deals. The year’s biggest, according to BioWorld statistics, is the partnership extension between Evotec SE and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. to identify neurodegenerative disease therapies for eight years. The other ADC deals involve Synaffix BV, which signed a $2 billion pact in January with Amgen Inc., and a $2.2 billion expanded deal in February with Macrogenics Inc.
Ahead of the upcoming G7 summit to be hosted in Japan this month, a delegation of 24 CEOs from the Biopharmaceutical CEOs Roundtable met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss global priorities and to flag concerns over drug pricing policies in Japan.
Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories Ltd. (SNBL) agreed to acquire Satsuma Pharmaceuticals Inc.as part of a deal worth as much as $220 million that includes rights to the STS-101 migraine drug. Shin Nippon will pay 91 cents in cash per share, as well as a non-tradeable contingent value right worth up to $5.77 per share based on the potential sale, license, or other grant of rights of Satsuma’s migraine drug STS-101.
Pharma groups are calling on Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) to reconsider its current drug pricing policies that include annual price cuts on innovative drugs.
Innate Pharma SA inked a licensing deal that grants Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd exclusive worldwide rights to research and develop antibody-drug conjugates using a panel of selected Innate antibodies against an undisclosed target, with a primary focus in celiac disease.
Japan’s PMDA has approved Aurion Biotech Inc.’s cell therapy, Vyznova, for the treatment of bullous keratopathy of the cornea, making it the first-ever approval of a cell therapy to treat corneal endothelial disease.
Astellas Pharma Inc.’s zolbetuximab, a monoclonal antibody targeting Claudin 18.2, met the primary endpoint for progression-free survival as well as secondary endpoints for overall survival in the phase III Glow trial in CLDN18.2-positive, HER2-negative, locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.
Japan’s PMDA has approved Aurion Biotech Inc.’s cell therapy, Vyznova, for the treatment of bullous keratopathy of the cornea, making it the first-ever approval of a cell therapy to treat corneal endothelial disease.
Astellas Pharma Inc.’s zolbetuximab, a monoclonal antibody targeting Claudin 18.2, met the primary endpoint for progression-free survival as well as secondary endpoints for overall survival in the phase III Glow trial in CLDN18.2-positive, HER2-negative, locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s oral allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitor TAK-279 met primary and secondary endpoints in a phase IIb clinical trial in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, but analysts say it may be too little too late to make a big splash compared to competitors.
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