While smaller biotech outfits have certainly taken the brunt, the layoff deluge of the past year hasn’t spared big pharmas either. Now, after unveiling more than 250 job cuts in San Diego in September, Bristol Myers Squibb is turning its staff reduction campaign northeast. Starting at the end of May, BMS will roll out job cuts for 48 employees in Princeton, New Jersey, according to a new Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) alert filed with the state. The BMS site in question is a 650,000-square-foot facility that houses employees from the commercial team, plus commercialization and late-stage development partners from the R&D unit. The plant also hosts members of BMS’ global product development and supply teams, according to the company’s website. It’s not immediately clear what types of roles will be affected. Putting the cuts into context, Bristol’s business model is “evolving to support our mission to discover, develop and deliver innovative ...
After raking in billions with its Pfizer-partnered vaccine, BioNTech is turning to new ventures as its revenues plummet. BioNTech reported first-quarter revenues of €1.27 billion (1.4 billion), a far cry from 2022’s first-quarter haul of €6.37 billion ($7.03 billion). Despite the downturn, the quarter went “fully to our expectations,” CFO Jens Holstein said on a conference call. Sales-wise, the current quarter should be the weakest of 2023, Holstein said. The company’s COVID-19 vaccine revenue guidance for 2023 stands at €5 billion ($5.4 billion), which is “something we can live with,” the CFO added. Meanwhile, BioNTech believes the United States’ transition to a commercial COVID-19 vaccine market could provide new growth opportunities. But as its pandemic-related business struggles, BioNTech is busy advancing its pipeline as it looks for its next big growth driver. The company’s pipeline includes multiple oncology ventures, including an HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that it’s working on with ...
Janssen Biotech, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, has entered into a worldwide collaboration and licensing agreement with Cellular Biomedicine Group (CBMG) for a pair of CAR T-cell therapy candidates. Under the terms of the agreement, Janssen will pay CBMG an upfront fee of $245m, with the Chinese biotech also eligible for certain milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties. In exchange, CBMG will grant Janssen a worldwide licence to develop and commercialise the CAR-T assets, except in Greater China, with the companies set to negotiate an option for the pharma to commercialise the products in the China territory. The investigational CAR-Ts have shown promising early-stage results in patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), the companies said, with the majority of patients in the studies having diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). DLBCL is the most common type of aggressive lymphoma, accounting for approximately one-third of ...
A study abstract inadvertently posted online showed J&J and Legend’s therapy, Carvykti, reduced the risk of disease progression or death by more than 70% over standard drugs. The cancer cell therapy Carvykti dramatically outperformed standard drugs in a late-stage clinical trial testing its use in earlier treatment of the blood cancer multiple myeloma, according to data from a study abstract that was briefly posted online Tuesday. The abstract showed Carvykti, which is made by Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech, reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 74% compared to standard of care — a degree of benefit that analysts who viewed it described as “stellar” and “highly encouraging.” J&J and Legend had previously said in late January that the study met its main goal, but did not disclose any specific data at the time. The abstract, which is no longer available online, was for presentation ...
[Before the Sartorius buyout, Polyplus had itself been expanding through multiple acquisitions. (Sartorius)] As the biopharma industry struggles with a dire shortage of viral vectors to make cell and gene therapies, contract manufacturers are busy beefing up their capabilities. In the latest example of biopharma’s ongoing investment in cell and gene therapy production, Sartorius has agreed to acquire French company Polyplus for 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion), the German CDMO said Friday. The deal gives Sartorius additional know-how in nucleic acid delivery, including transfection reagents and plasmid DNA design, all of which are key elements in the production of viral vectors for building cell and gene therapies. Formed in 2001, Polyplus employs about 270 people in several locations in France, Belgium, the U.S. and China. Before the Sartorius buyout, Polyplus had itself been expanding through M&A deals. In 2021, Polyplus bought Asia-Pacific-focused reagent supplier Biowire. ...
The Newton Massachusetts-based company, Karyopharm Therapeutics, who developed a new class of drugs to treat multiple myeloma, is in the process of submitting a new drug application to the FDA for their selinexor drug.
The IPO has provided the biotech major with the financial bandwidth to aggressively pursue its new generation of CAR-T variants on a broader level, with the advancement of several therapies or the start of clinical trials over the next couple of months.
Though the US stands first in the race in terms of sales and growth, it is highly believed that China would reach the peak in the pharma market by 2022. At present, since there has been a decrease in public health funding, there has been a slight fall in pharmerging countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). But it is believed that the condition of these pharmerging countries will improve in the next five years [1].
As a new, erratic administration consolidated its position in the White House and firmed its foundations in the federal government, 2017 turned out to be uncertain for the biopharma industry. Then President-elect Donald Trump saying that the industry was getting away with murder on pricing did not bode well for the industry but more than a year later after the President assuming office, real reform has been spared for biopharma.
Nation’s first approved personalized cellular therapy now available for second indication
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