GSK has announced results from a survey revealing that parents are less knowledgeable about meningitis compared to other childhood infectious diseases. The multi-country GSK-commissioned and funded survey conducted by Ipsos revealed that 72% of over 4,000 parents said they were somewhat knowledgeable or knew a lot about meningitis. However, this result was significantly lower compared to other infectious diseases, including COVID-19 (95%), influenza (94%), measles (86%), pneumonia (82%) and whooping cough (74%). Additionally, 93% of parents across the US, Brazil, Germany, France, Spain, the UK and Italy surveyed said they could not identify the three most common symptoms of the condition: fever, headache and stiff neck. Annually, 2.5 million people are diagnosed with meningitis globally, of which 1.2 million cases are invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). Despite 88% of parents considering meningitis to be a serious childhood illness, only 38% said they believed that their child was at risk of catching ...
Pfizer has announced that a new personalised treatment option, Braftovi (encorafenib) plus Mektovi (binimetinib), has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for certain lung cancer patients. The regulator’s decision specifically applies to adults with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a BRAF V600E mutation, as detected by an FDA-approved test. Lung cancer is the second most common type of cancer and NSCLC accounts for up to 85% of all lung cancers cases. Certain lung cancers are linked to acquired genetic abnormalities such as a BRAF V600E mutation, which occurs in approximately 2% of NSCLC cases. “BRAF V600E mutations identify a unique subtype of metastatic NSCLC that presents an actionable biomarker that precision medicines like Braftovi plus Mektovi combination therapy can help address,” explained Gregory Riely, an investigator in the ongoing mid-stage PHAROS trial that supported the FDA’s approval. The study, which is evaluating the combination ...
Almirall and EpimAb Biotherapeutics have announced a bispecific antibody partnership worth up to $210m. The agreement will give dermatology-focused Almirall a licence to utilise EpimAb’s Fabs-In-Tandem Immunoglobulin (FIT-Ig) platform to generate, develop and commercialise bispecific antibodies. Almirall will have exclusive global rights for any resulting products and, in exchange, EpimAb is eligible to receive milestone payments totalling up to $210m plus royalties on net sales. Karl Ziegelbauer, executive vice president, research and development, and chief scientific officer of Almirall, said the agreement was “an important step” towards the company’s ambition to develop new biologics in the dermatology field. EpimAb’s FIT-Ig platform generates bispecific antibodies using only the basic structural parts of monoclonal antibodies without adding any complex changes. The company has so far focused the technology within the oncology space and currently has five clinical-stage assets being evaluated for indications including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gastrointestinal cancer and multiple ...
From time to time, the FDA convenes an outside group of experts to weigh in on an experimental drug or medical device, or to offer insight on a scientific matter that raises questions. The FDA has 49 committees and panels oriented around various therapeutic areas and modalities. As regulatory submissions increasingly include digital components, the agency wants to ensure it is adequately informed about these technologies. It’s adding a digital health advisory committee charged with providing that perspective. The FDA expects the new advisory committee will become fully operational in 2024. It will discuss technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, digital therapeutics, wearables, remote patient monitoring, and software. In addition, topics covered by this new committee could include decentralized clinical trials, patient-generated health data, and cybersecurity. The committee will consist of a core nine voting members, including the chair. Members serve terms of up ...
Although people with opioid use disorder (OUD) are significantly more likely to overdose or have a complication after major surgery than those without the disorder, using medications for the treatment of OUD before surgery may eliminate that extra risk, suggests a large, first-of-its-kind study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2023 annual meeting. Patients with OUD who didn’t use an OUD medication (such as buprenorphine or methadone) were over four times more likely to overdose after having surgery, yet those who used evidence-based OUD medication before surgery were essentially at no greater risk than those who didn’t have OUD, according to the study. Taken orally, OUD medications reduce withdrawal and cravings and prevent opioids from producing the feeling of euphoria that drives addiction. Anjali Dixit, M.D., MPH, pediatric anesthesiologist at Stanford University, California, said, “We know that OUD treatments are very effective in helping to prevent relapse, overdose and death in nonsurgical ...
By Gerard Platenburg Pictured: RNA/iStock, Artur Plawgo Based on the significant progress made over the last few decades with RNA therapeutics, RNA editing is widely considered the next generation of promising medicines in this field. RNA therapies have made significant progress over the last few years, with an increasing number of FDA approvals beginning in 1998 with Vitravene for CMV retinitis, followed by Macugen for macular degeneration in 2004 and Spinraza for spinal muscular atrophy in 2016. There have also been multiple siRNA-based drugs, including Onpattro for polyneuropathy of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis in 2018. And finally, in 2020, perhaps the most well-known products in the RNA space were introduced: the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. All of these demonstrate the strength of RNA therapies and their potential impact on diseases with high unmet need. RNA therapeutics are indeed elegant approaches to altering RNA and thus protein expression, opening the potential to target ...
By Connor Lynch Pictured: Pfizer’s office in Belgium/iStock, Alexandros Michailidis The FDA has greenlit Pfizer’s ulcerative colitis drug etrasimod, marketed as Velsipity, based on Phase III results published in The Lancet, the company announced Friday. Pfizer’s Elevate UC Phase III registrational program, consisting of the Elevate UC 52 and Elevate UC 12 clinical trials, examined the safety and efficacy of a 2-mg daily dose of the oral medication for patients intolerant to or who had failed on trials of a conventional, biological, or Janus kinase inhibitor therapy. Both studies “achieved all primary and key secondary efficacy endpoints, with a favorable safety profile consistent with previous studies of Velsipity,” Pfizer said in Friday’s announcement. In the Elevate 52 UC trial, 27% of patients achieved clinical remission, compared to 7% of patients receiving a placebo at week 12, and by week 52 it was 32% versus 7%. In the Elevate 12 UC ...
Treatment indicated for patients with BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic form of disease. Image Credit: Adobe Stock Images/Tex vector Pfizer revealed that the FDA has approved Braftoni (encorafenib) + Mektovi (binimetinib) for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a BRAF V600E mutation. Previously, the medication was approved for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) with a BRAF V600E mutation. “Today’s approval builds on our long-standing commitment to deliver innovative, personalized medicines to patients with lung cancer. By pursuing precision medicines that target a patient’s specific type of cancer, we are leveraging our deep understanding of tumor biology to help address the underlying cause of disease,” said Chris Boshoff, MD, PhD, chief oncology research and development officer, EVP, Pfizer. “Since its initial FDA approval in 2018, Braftovi + Mektovi combination therapy has helped thousands of people living with BRAF V600E- or V600K-mutant ...
Hospital M&A activity has been returning to pre-pandemic levels this year, according to a new report. There were 18 M&A transactions in Q3, compared to seven in Q3 2021 and 10 in Q3 of last year. The reason why M&A activity is regaining its momentum is because hospitals are seeking partnerships to grow and protect their long-term financial sustainability — the report found financial distress was the driving factor behind nearly 40% of deals announced during Q3. By KATIE ADAMS Hospitals and health systems have undergone extreme financial pressure in the past couple years, and this issue is being reflected in the sector’s M&A activity, according to a new report from Kaufman Hall. The report pointed out that hospitals’ median operating margins were in the red for all of 2022. Things have gotten better this year, and 2023 will likely end as a much more stable year for hospital finance ...
By Jia Jie Chen Pictured: Stocks trending down/iStock, lerbank Shares of Akero Therapeutics crashed this week after the biotech released data from a late-stage trial of its lead candidate, efruxifermin, in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Although the Phase IIb study met multiple secondary endpoints, the effect on the primary endpoint was not considered statistically significant. The SYMMETRY trial compared 182 patients with compensated cirrhosis—also known as F4 fibrosis—who were treated with efruxifermin (EFX) with a placebo control group. The data showed that 22% of patients treated weekly with 28 mg of efruxifermin (EFX) saw at least a one-stage improvement in liver fibrosis with no non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) worsening, while 24% of those treated with 50 mgs of EFX achieved this result; this compared to 14% of patients in the placebo arm who experienced similar improvement. The differences between the placebo group and both experimental arms were not statistically significant, with p-values at ...
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