After many years of tracking the pharmaceutical industry’s pricing tactics, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is once again placing a spotlight on the price increases that end up costing the U.S. healthcare system the most. In an annual report (PDF) on “unsupported price increases” (UPIs), the independent nonprofit has placed scrutiny on hikes that it says aren’t supported by evidence of new clinical benefit, ranking the medicines by their contributions to excess healthcare spending. This year’s edition saw the return of AbbVie’s superstar Humira, which last year enjoyed a break from the annual list after being included in every other report since the series began in 2019. The fifth annual version, released Monday, evaluates the industry’s pricing moves in 2022. For Humira, 2022 was the last year of market exclusivity before the med’s dive off of the patent cliff. Humira captured ICER’s top spot on its UPI ...
Last month, Bristol Myers Squibb made the surprise announcement that the FDA will convene an advisory committee meeting to discuss the company’s bid to move the CAR-T therapy Abecma into earlier lines of treatment. Now, we know at least one reason why the FDA wants more opinions on the application. Abecma showed no advantage in extending patients’ lives compared with standard combination regimens when used in multiple myeloma patients after two to four prior lines of therapy, according to an updated interim analysis of the phase 3 KarMMa-3 trial presented at the 65th American Society of Hematology annual meeting. The statistical analysis revealed a negligible 1% increased risk of death for Abecma. But median overall survival looks better for Abecma, as patients lived a median of 41.4 months versus 37.9 months for control. The lack of an overall survival showing came in stark contrast to the 51% reduction in the ...
Copy number variations (CNVs), which activate oncogenes and inactivate tumor suppressor genes, play a crucial role in the development and progression of cancers. As such, CNV analysis is a vital component of tumor grading and diagnosis. Traditionally, this analysis relies on nucleotide hybridization and next-generation sequencing, methods confined to high-complexity centralized laboratories and requiring several days to complete. A more rapid, cost-effective, and straightforward approach to CNV analysis could significantly enhance clinical decision-making, refine surgical planning, and facilitate the identification of potential molecular therapies within the timeframe of surgical procedures. Researchers have now identified nanopore sequencing as a method to refine CNV analysis. A study conducted by researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC, Lebanon, NH, USA) has found nanopore sequencing to be a more efficient means for CNV analysis. They used Oxford Nanopore’s MinION device, which offers real-time interpretation of long-read nucleotide sequences. To adapt this technology for CNV detection, ...
Dive Brief Medtronic will pay Cosmo Intelligent Medical Devices $100 million upfront to expand a partnership that makes Medtronic the exclusive global distributor of Cosmo’s GI Genius platform. GI Genius received de novo clearance in 2021 and uses machine learning to flag regions of interest during a colonoscopy, helping physicians detect lesions, such as polyps or suspected tumors. In addition, Medtronic said it would pay a double-digit royalty on net sales and another $100 million in milestone payments that it expects the partnership to reach by the end of 2024. Dive Insight Medtronic first started working with Cosmo Intelligent Medical Devices, a subsidiary of Cosmo Pharmaceuticals, in 2019. When the Food and Drug Administration cleared GI Genius a few years later, the agency said it was the first device that used machine learning to help clinicians detect lesions in the colon. Now, Cosmo and Medtronic are expanding their partnership, including ...
Pharmaceutical Executive Editorial Staff Phase III trial to investigate novel individualized neoantigen therapy V940 (mRNA-4157) in combination with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as an adjuvant treatment for patients with completely resected Stage II, IIIA, or IIIB non-small cell lung cancer. Image credit: Axel Kock | stock.adobe.com Merck and Moderna, Inc., have announced plans to launch the pivotal Phase III INTerpath-002 (NCT06077760) clinical trial of the novel individualized neoantigen therapy V940 (mRNA-4157) in combination with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as an adjuvant treatment for patients with completely resected Stage II, IIIA, or IIIB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). V940 is comprised of synthetic mRNA coding for up to 34 neoantigens that are designed and produced based on the unique mutational signature of a patient’s tumor. After administration of the drug, the algorithmically derived and RNA-encoded neoantigen sequences are endogenously translated and undergo natural cellular antigen processing and presentation. “As lung cancer is the leading cause ...
Novartis drug iptacopan, which won its first FDA approval in early December in a rare blood disorder, has met the main goal of a pivotal test in an ultra-rare kidney disease. The small molecule’s potential to address many diseases has stirred up blockbuster expectations. By FRANK VINLUAN The blockbuster potential for new Novartis drug iptacopan rests on the molecule’s ability to reach many diseases. The drug is on the way to its first one, following a recent FDA approval in a rare blood disorder. Now Novartis has data in a different rare disease with no approved treatment options. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant says these results could support regulatory submissions in 2024. While Novartis has said iptacopan could achieve peak sales topping $3 billion, the company has provided no breakdown of that projection by indication. The results announced Monday are from a Phase 3 test of iptacopan in C3 glomerulopathy (C3G), ...
If you can’t beat them, join them. After Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo topped Seagen’s classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) therapy Adcetris in a head-to-head trial, Seagen has trotted out new datasets suggesting the two drugs—a PD-1 inhibitor and an antibody-drug conjugate—hold potential when paired together as part of a combination. In a midstage study, all patients with early-stage cHL who received a combination of Adcetris, Opdivo and the chemotherapy regimen AD (doxorubicin and dacarbazine) were alive without disease progression after one year of treatment. The analysis came from 150 patients enrolled in part C of the phase 2 SGN35-027 trial and was shared at the 65th American Society of Hematology annual meeting. The data look promising, but cHL is known to be relatively easy to treat. In an interview, Megan O’Meara, M.D., Seagen’s head of clinical development, acknowledged that people want to see longer-term data—and ultimately a survival benefit—in frontline cHL. ...
Groundbreaking? Game-changing? Transformational? Historic? None of the buzzwords sound adequate to describe Friday’s FDA approval of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics’ Casgevy (exa-cel) to treat sickle cell disease (SCD). The therapy is a long-awaited potential cure for the debilitating and life-threatening disease which affects more than 100,000 in the United States, most of them Black. It’s also the first medicine using the revolutionary CRISPR gene-editing system, which earned its inventors a Nobel Prize in 2020 and holds tantalizing potential to cure diseases for which there is no treatment. Friday, in surprising timing, the FDA approved a second gene therapy for SCD, bluebird bio’s Lyfgenia (lovo-cel), which was due for a decision Dec. 20. Both approvals are for people 12 and older. The FDA has signed off on roughly two dozen cell or gene therapies, beginning with Novartis’ Kymriah in 2017, but none have the potential impact of Casgevy and Lyfgenia. ...
On December 5, China Biopharm announced that it is conducting a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase I clinical trial to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile of TQA3038, a small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting the hepatitis B virus (HBV) developed independently by China Biopharm for the indication of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). TQA3038 is a small interfering RNA (siRNA) drug developed independently by China Biopharmaceuticals targeting HBV, with the indication of chronic hepatitis B. The first human clinical trial of TQA3038 has been completed with the enrollment of the first batch of subjects, and the dosing process went smoothly, and post-dosing observation has been completed. Chronic hepatitis B is a serious public health problem worldwide, with approximately 290 million chronically infected patients worldwide. China is a high prevalence area of hepatitis B. It is estimated that there are about 86 million chronic HBV-infected patients, and a large number of patients ...
On December 1, a delegation of global health experts from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation) visited Beijing Zhifei Biological Products Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhifei Biologicals, and visited the production workshop and related laboratories, and had an in-depth exchange of views on innovative topics, such as key conjugate vaccine projects. Mr. Du Lin, Executive Director of Beijing Zhifei Biological Products Co., Ltd., and others warmly received the delegation and attended the seminar. The visiting Gates Foundation delegation included clinical experts, vaccinologists and immunologists, and senior strategists. During the meeting, the Zhifei Biologicals team explained the clinical trials of key conjugate vaccine products, domestic and overseas sites and vaccine marketization, etc. The delegation introduced the incidence of relevant diseases and flow-regulation data, and made suggestions on planned clinical studies, etc. The Gates Foundation delegation fully recognized Beijing Zhifei Biological Products Co., Ltd.’s R&D strength and industrialization ...
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