BOSTON – Ambrx Inc. helped kick off the BIO International Convention Monday by disclosing a potential $303 million collaboration with Merck & Co. Inc. using its EuCODE platform to develop antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) against oncology and other indications. Read More
BOSTON – 2012 may be the year that the patent cliff reaches its height – with $33 billion of sales at risk – but the impact of loss of exclusivity will continue to reverberate across the decade, with more than $290 billion of prescription drugs sales due to be exposed to generic competition between now and 2018. Read More
Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, exhibited its evident enthusiasm for AC Immune SA's pipeline of antibodies in development for Alzheimer's disease, by in-licensing the company's preclinical tau-targeting program in a deal potentially worth upward of CHF400 million (US$421 million) in up-front plus research, development and sales-associated milestone payments. Read More
While the Supreme Court narrowly ruled that pharma sales representatives are "outside" salespeople not subject to overtime pay, the court sent a unanimous message to all federal agencies that they can't reinterpret laws and regulations without going through the proper rulemaking process. Read More
Two days ahead of an FDA advisory committee meeting focused on Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s new drug application for Kyprolis (carfilzomib), briefing documents highlighted the agency's concern over severe cardiac toxicities and the possibility that the second-generation proteasome inhibitor may not offer an advantage over existing multiple myeloma therapies. Read More
BOSTON – Patients are becoming more involved in their own health care decisions, and companies that realize this and integrate those changing dynamics into their own business models will be the ones that ultimately profit and be successful in the future. That was the theme discussed in a panel at BIO 2012, titled "New rules of patient engagement." Read More
BOSTON – Everyone seems to want a seat on the emerging markets bandwagon these days in biopharma, but long-term success and relationships that will yield lasting and profitable results still require the correct mindset and strategy. Read More
BOSTON – LEO Pharma is launching a new search for products and partners at BIO 2012 this week, with a four-strong business development team looking to in-license programs that will advance the company's ambition to become the global leader in dermatology. Read More
• Forma Therapeutics, of Watertown, Mass., and TGen Drug Development, of Scottsdale, Ariz., a subsidiary of the Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute, agreed to jointly develop transformative cancer therapies. Forma targets essential cancer pathways to create small-molecule cancer therapies. TGen will bring preclinical and clinical development capabilities to Forma. Read More
• Cell Therapeutics Inc., of Seattle, said the University of Washington has begun enrolling patients in a randomized Phase II trial testing tosedostat with either cytarabine or decitabine for elderly patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome. Read More
• Horizon Pharma Inc., of Deerfield, Ill., and Mallinckrodt LLC, the pharmaceuticals business of Covidien LLC, of Dublin, Ireland, signed a U.S. co-promotion agreement for Duexis (ibuprofen and famotidine) to relieve symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis and to decrease the risk of developing upper gastrointestinal ulcers. Read More
• A new retrospective subanalysis of the RE-LY trial suggested similar rates of periprocedural bleeding and thromboembolic complications in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients undergoing a surgical or invasive procedure treated with Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate mesylate), from Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, of Ingelheim, Germany, compared to warfarin. Read More
