Spending on R&D by midmarket biotech companies increased 18 percent from 2015 to 2016, from an average of $65.9 million to an average of $80.6 million, according to the 2017 BDO Biotech Briefing, a report from BDO USA LLP analyzing the 10-K SEC filings from companies in the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) with revenue of less than $300 million.

Recombinant clotting factors have been the mainstay treatments for hemophilia, but there are a growing number of companies developing hemophilia drugs using novel mechanisms of action. Those companies will get a look at the competition later this month at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) conference as they vie for patients with unmet needs, including those with antibodies that inhibit the clotting factors and as treatments that can be used for prophylaxis.

SAN DIEGO – A pair of clinical trial presentations at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 77th Scientific Sessions on Monday, both with simultaneous publications in The New England Journal of Medicine, established the cardiovascular risk of two already-approved diabetes drugs.

SAN DIEGO – Given the high burden of type 1 diabetes with decades of insulin shots as well as renal and cardiovascular complications associated with the disease, preventing or even just delaying the onset of type 1 diabetes has been a long-term focus of researchers.

SAN DIEGO – At a joint session of the American Society of Nephrology and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as part of the ADA's 77th Scientific Sessions, nephrologists presented data on how diabetes drugs in the SGLT2, GLP-1 receptor agonists and DPP-4 inhibitors classes affected diabetes patients with diabetic kidney disease as well as how the drugs affect the kidneys of patients that might eventually develop the disease.

SAN DIEGO – Praluent (alirocumab, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc./Sanofi SA), a PCSK9 inhibitor that lowers cholesterol, invaded the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 77th Scientific Sessions.

The rheumatoid arthritis (RA) market has come a long way since Enbrel (etanercept, Amgen Inc.) was first approved to treat the disease in 1998. Nearly two decades later, there are now a handful of additional TNF-alpha inhibitors, including some long-acting varieties, and multiple other drugs working through different mechanisms of action that have been approved by the FDA to treat RA.

As part of their economic development strategies, countries outside of the U.S. continue to grow their life sciences and biopharmaceutical presence, gaining on the U.S. leadership in biopharmaceutical R&D, according to a new report prepared by Teconomy Partners LLC for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

The rheumatoid arthritis (RA) market has come a long way since Enbrel (etanercept, Amgen Inc.) was first approved to treat the disease in 1998. Nearly two decades later, there are now a handful of additional TNF-alpha inhibitors, including some long-acting varieties, and multiple other drugs working through different mechanisms of action that have been approved by the FDA to treat RA. In addition to the multitude of biologics, there's even an oral disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD), Xeljanz (tofacitinib, Pfizer Inc.) that works by inhibiting Janus kinase (JAK). 

As companies develop artificial intelligence (AI) platforms using big data to aid in drug development, they have to balance providing the service for external development of customers' and partners' drugs with internal development of their own drugs.