Vanda Pharmaceuticals has a new commercial asset under its belt after striking a deal to buy certain rights to Johnson & Johnson’s multiple sclerosis med Ponvory for $100 million. Vanda secured U.S. and Canadian rights to the daily oral selective sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1R) modulator from J&J’s Actelion subsidiary. Ponvory was approved in 2021 to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis and could be a potential treatment for a group of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, including psoriasis and ulcerative colitis, Vanda said in its Thursday press release. The buy is a “significant milestone” for Vanda, CEO and chairman Mihael H. Polymeropoulos, M.D., said in a statement. The deal “expands our commercial portfolio and gives us access to a versatile immune response modifier that can potentially have broad application in treating a number of autoimmune-based disorders,” the chief added. J&J’s sale of certain Ponvory rights comes after Fierce Pharma in February ...
In the currently mismatched CD38 antibody race, Sanofi’s Sarclisa has delivered a pivotal trial win, which might help the lagging follower level the playing field a little. Using Sarclisa on top of Takeda’s Velcade, Bristol Myers Squibb’s Revlimid and the steroid dexamethasone (VRd), significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death versus VRd alone in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma not eligible for transplant, Sanofi said Thursday. Sanofi’s phase 3 IMROZ readout comes as Sarclisa’s in-class rival, Johnson & Johnson’s Darzalex, is sharing a positive phase 3 for its VRd combo in transplant-eligible patients at the upcoming American Society of Hematology annual meeting. Still, the J&J data don’t prevent Sanofi from claiming the first phase 3 win for an anti-CD38 antibody with VRd in transplant-ineligible patients. Results from the IMROZ trial will be shared at a future medical meeting and will support a regulatory filing, Sanofi said. A ...
Dive Brief Intuitive Surgical’s venture capital arm has launched a second investment fund with $150 million in new capital. The Intuitive Ventures fund will support startups focused on improving healthcare access and coordination, developing precision diagnostics and interventions, and integrating digital technology, the firm said Monday. The new fund follows the launch of Intuitive’s first venture capital fund three years ago and brings the firm’s total assets under management to $250 million. Dive Insight The robotic surgery leader is among a number of large medtech companies to establish a venture capital operation dedicated to supporting a portfolio of early-stage companies. GE HealthCare, Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific have also launched venture funds. The venture has since invested in more than 10 startups, supported by Intuitive Surgical’s network and corporate oversight. Those companies include Capstan Medical, Endogenex, Flywheel, KelaHealth, MedCrypt, Neocis Optellum and Surge Therapeutics. “Fund II deepens Intuitive’s commitment ...
As Johnson & Johnson places a magnifying glass on its pharmaceutical business, the focus for the remainder of the decade rests on the shoulders of some 25 new and upcoming drugs. Together, those meds will help the company deliver pharmaceutical sales growth of 5% to 7% between 2025 and 2030, the company said Tuesday. That phalanx of novel products will be essential as J&J’s longstanding immunology star, Stelara, nears its tumble over the patent cliff. Last year, the drug generated $9.7 billion and was J&J’s top product by sales. During an enterprise business review Tuesday, J&J laid out its expectations across the 2025 to 2030 timeframe. Chief among those, J&J says it will boast 10 or more drugs with peak sales potential of at least $5 billion, including cancer launches Talvey and Tecvayli, plus another 15-plus products with sales potential of at least $1 billion. The latter group of therapeutics ...
Eli Lilly cancer drug Jaypirca is closing 2023 the same way it started—with an FDA approval. The latest regulatory nod adds two additional types of blood cancers to the list of indications for the therapy. Friday’s accelerated approval for Jaypirca covers the treatment of adults with either chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). The once-daily oral drug is a small molecule designed to block Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, or BTK, a cancer-driving enzyme. While other drugs already do this, Lilly’s molecule has an edge. The FDA based its decision on the results of an open-label, single-arm Phase 1/2 study in blood cancers that included more than 100 patients with CLL or SLL previously treated with at least two prior lines of therapy. Participants had received a median of five prior lines of therapy; the FDA said 77% of these patients had discontinued a BTK inhibitor after their cancer ...
As AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and BeiGene are battling it out in the same BTK inhibitor market, Eli Lilly is trailblazing a new path for the blood cancer drug class. On Friday, Dec.1, the FDA granted accelerated approval to Lilly’s Jaypirca for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) who have received at least two prior lines of therapy. Jaypirca, which is itself a BTK inhibitor, is now allowed following treatment with a BTK inhibitor and a BCL-2 inhibitor. The ability to help patients who have failed on a BTK inhibitor makes Jaypirca unique. The Lilly med is a non-covalent BTK inhibitor that binds to BTK by a mechanism different from existing covalent agents, namely AbbVie/J&J’s Imbruvica, AZ’s Calquence and BeiGene’s Brukinsa. “Once patients with CLL or SLL have progressed on covalent BTK inhibitor and BCL-2 inhibitor therapies, treatments are limited and outcomes can be ...
By Tyler Patchen Samsung Bioepis has inked a settlement and license agreement with Johnson & Johnson, which will settle all U.S. patent litigation and allow for the commercialization of a biosimilar for the arthritis drug Stelara, known as SB17. According to Thursday’s announcement, Samsung Bioepis’ license period for its Stelara biosimilar will kick in on February 22, 2025. However, all the other terms of the deal were labeled as confidential and no further details were revealed. The BLA for the SB17 drug is under review by the FDA. If the drug is approved, it will be commercialized by Sandoz. The issues between J&J and Samsung Bioepis come from the South Korean biotech filing a petition for an Inter Partes Review of J&J’s Stelara, or ustekinumab patent. According to a legal intelligence website lexology, Samsung Bioepis stated that the claims of J&J’s patent were invalid. Patent protections over the use of ...
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its intention to investigate the safety of CAR-T therapies following reports that they could be linked to the development of T-cell cancers. Following reports from clinical trials and post-marketing adverse event data sources, the wide probe is directed at patients who received treatment with all currently approved BCMA- or CD19-directed autologous CAR-T cell immunotherapies. CAR-T-cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that involves collecting and using patients’ own immune cells to treat conditions including lymphoma, leukaemia and multiple myeloma. T-cell malignancies have been seen in patients treated with several approved products in the class, including Bristol Myers Squibb’s (BMS) Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel) and Breyanzi (lisocabtagene maraleucel), Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech’s Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), Novartis’s Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel), and Gilead and Kite’s Yescarta’s Tecartus (brexucabtagene autoleucel) and Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel). Currently, the potential risk of developing secondary malignancies is labelled as ...
Don Tracy, Associate Editor Blenrep significantly extended the time to disease progression or death against existing care methods as a second-line treatment for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. GSK announced positive results from an interim analysis of its DREAMM-7 head-to-head Phase 3 trial evaluating belantamab mafodotin (Blenrep) as a second-line treatment for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. According to a company press release, the trial met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS) and showed that Blenrep when combined with bortezomib plus dexamethasone (BorDex) significantly extended the time to disease progression or death versus daratumumab plus BorDex, an existing standard of care for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.1 “Patients with multiple myeloma need treatment options after first relapse that are efficacious, readily accessible and have novel mechanisms of action,” said Hesham Abdullah, SVP, global head, oncology, R&D, GSK, in a press release.1 “We are particularly encouraged by the potential for belantamab mafodotin ...
By Tyler Patchen Pictured: Exterior of an FDA building/iStock, Grandbrothers The FDA announced Tuesday that it is investigating the “serious risk” of malignancies in patients who received treatment with BCMA- or CD19-directed autologous CAR-T cell immunotherapies. The regulator said it has determined that the risk of T-cell malignancies “is applicable to all currently approved BCMA-directed and CD19-directed genetically modified autologous CAR T cell immunotherapies” including Bristol Myers Squibb’s Abcema and Breyanzi, Johnson & Johnson’s Carvykti, Novartis’ Kymriah and Gilead’s Tecartus and Yescarta. “T-cell malignancies have occurred in patients treated with several products in the class,” according to the FDA, which said it received reports from clinical trials and postmarketing adverse event data. While the agency said that the overall benefits of these products continue to outweigh their potential risks, it “is investigating the identified risk of T cell malignancy with serious outcomes, including hospitalization and death, and is evaluating the ...
Go to Page Go
your submission has already been received.
OK
Please enter a valid Email address!
Submit
The most relevant industry news & insight will be sent to you every two weeks.