It took Kandaswamy (Swamy) Vijayan, CEO of newly launched Plexium Inc., a few years to figure out where he needed to focus his creative energies. With an engineering background, he helped develop diagnostic tools. But he wanted to take the skill further. "For longest time, I thought diagnostics were the be all and end all," Vijayan told BioWorld MedTech.
It was at the constantly changing intersection of data science that Arsenal Biosciences Inc.'s CEO, Ken Drazan, found himself as he helped bring the company to life and to its $85 million series A fundraising.
With Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s acquisition of Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. for about $930 million up front, Alexion expands and diversifies its pipeline into familiar territory – treating complement-mediated diseases. Blue Bell, Pa.-based Achillion is developing oral, small-molecule factor D inhibitors for treating complement alternative pathway-mediated rare diseases, including paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and C3 glomerulopathy.
Top-line data from Relmada Therapeutics Inc.'s phase II study of REL-1017 (dextromethadone) in patients with treatment-resistant depression caused the stock to more than double Tuesday, a great day on the market.
When Eli Lilly and Co. took over Colucid Pharmaceuticals Inc. for nearly $1 billion in early 2017, it brought then-migraine candidate Reyvow (lasmiditan) back to its founder and now to its FDA approval for the acute treatment of migraine, with or without aura, in adults. Its unusual mechanism puts it outside many other approved migraine treatments, which could hinder its market penetration.
The first patients have been treated in Kodiak Sciences Inc.'s phase II DAZZLE trial of anti-VEGF antibody biopolymer conjugate KSI-301 in patients with treatment-naïve wet age-related macular degeneration. At least 368 patients worldwide are expected to enroll in the study. The primary endpoint will be assessed at one year and each patient will be treated and followed for two years.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Stealth Biotherapeutics Corp. reached a deal for an option to co-develop and commercialize elamipretide for mitochondrial diseases.
Bluebird Bio Inc. and Novo Nordisk A/S plan to develop in vivo genome editing treatments for genetic diseases, including hemophilia, over the next three years.
Minoryx Therapeutics SL, of Barcelona, completed recruitment early for its FRAMES phase II trial of MIN-102 (leriglitazone), a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma agonist, to treat Friedreich's ataxia.
Akcea Therapeutics Inc., a majority owned affiliate of Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Pfizer Inc. signed an exclusive, worldwide licensing deal for AKCEA-ANGPTL-3-LRx, which is being developed to treat cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The deal follows a period during which Akcea's stock (NASDAQ:AKCA) has sagged prior to rising Monday and big changes in the company's C-suite.
