By Kate Goodwin Pictured: Boehringer Ingelheim building/iStock, Sundry Photography Boehringer Ingelheim is striking a deal to leverage artificial intelligence for some of the hardest to treat cancers. Phenomic AI announced a collaboration agreement with the pharma giant Wednesday. The Toronto and Boston-based biopharma is getting a $9 million upfront payment with another potential $500 million on the line in milestones and royalties to discover targets for stroma-rich cancers. The stroma-rich cancer category is among the most difficult to treat. Including types like colorectal and pancreatic, the tumor stroma in these cancers provides a hard-to-penetrate barrier around the tumor that both protects the cancer and helps feed it. Phenomic’s platform is focused on targets that can break through the stroma to ...
The European Commission has granted marketing authorisation to EirGenix’s Herceptin (trastuzumab) biosimilar for marketing in the European Union. The biosimilar has been approved as a treatment for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2-positive) breast cancer and metastatic gastric cancers, as per a 22 November press release. Herceptin is a monoclonal antibody that binds to HER2 receptors, thereby priming these receptors for immune system targeting. The drug generated SFr1.26bn ($1.4bn) in year-to-date (YTD) sales in September, as per Roche’s Q3 financials. Sandoz is responsible for the worldwide commercialisation of EirGenix’s Herceptin biosimilar, except in Taiwan, China, Russia, and some Asian countries, based on the 22 November press release. Meanwhile, EirGenix holds the developmental, commercialisation and manufacturing rights for the biosimilar in countries not covered by Sandoz. In September, EirGenix’s Herceptin biosimilar received a positive recommendation from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines ...
By Tristan Manalac Data from an early-stage study showed that Eli Lilly’s investigational RNA silencing therapeutic lepodisiran can induce sharp and durable reductions in serum lipoprotein(a) levels, the company revealed in a read-out presented over the weekend at the 2023 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. These findings come nearly three months after the Indianapolis-based pharma notched another Phase I victory, this time for its oral drug candidate muvalaplin, which strongly decreased lipoprotein(a) levels in healthy participants within 24 hours. Lipoprotein(a), also known as Lp(a), is a form of cholesterol that can cause plaques to form in arteries and block blood flow and is often tied to the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. The first-in-human trial of lepodisiran enrolled 48 patients who were given ascending doses of the investigational therapy—from 4 mg up to 608 mg—or a placebo. At the highest dose level, lepodisiran was able to elicit a ...
Mirati Therapeutics’ KRAS inhibitor Krazati’s EU prospects weren’t looking good after an initial rejection from Europe’s drugs regulator. Now, the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA’s) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has come around on the drug after taking a second look. The CHMP first rebuffed the med back in July, finding that it didn’t meet certain requirements for a conditional marketing authorization, despite acknowledging its positive risk-benefit profile. Mirati, disagreeing, filed for a formal re-examination that ultimately resulted in the recent positive opinion. Now, European patients with KRAS G12C-mutated advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) will soon have a new treatment option in Mirati’s flagship drug. The company was already supplying the therapy to eligible patients in the EU based on “individual requests” from healthcare professionals, it said in July. This will be good news for Bristol Myers Squibb, which last month put $5.8 billion on the table ...
By Tristan Manalac Pictured: Entrance to the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC/iStock The Department of Health and Human Services in a supplemental court filing posted late last week has suggested that Johnson & Johnson’s blockbuster psoriasis therapy Stelara (ustekinumab) might soon be “deselected” from the Inflation Reduction Act’s Drug Price Negotiation Program. The development comes after the FDA last week approved Amgen’s Wezlana (ustekinumab-auub), an interchangeable biosimilar to Stelara. In May 2023, Amgen and J&J settled their patent dispute over the biosimilar challenge to Stelara, allowing the entry of Wezlana “no later than January 1, 2025.” Under the current negotiation guidelines, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can reconsider a drug product for price negotiations when it is “subject to meaningful competition.” HHS referred to this provision in a separate October 2023 court filing, supporting its prior motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by various ...
Only two months after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said it was eyeing a crackdown on “improper” patents listed at the FDA, the agency has filed a challenge against more than 100 patents in the agency’s Orange Book. The patents cover drugs marketed by the likes of AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK and Teva, among other companies, the FTC said in a Tuesday release. In all, the commission has sent letters to 10 companies notifying them of the patent disputes. The FTC argues “improper” listings in the FDA’s Orange Book—the registry of patents on approved medicines—can throw up hurdles to competition in the drug industry. Specifically, improper patents can trigger regulatory delays for would-be generics challengers and throw up legal hurdles for generics players, the commission says. Some of the medicines targeted in this crackdown include AbbVie’s Restasis and Viatris’ EpiPen autoinjectors. As the antitrust agency points out, FDA regulations ...
By Tristan Manalac Pictured: Biogen sign/The Boston Globe via Getty, John Tlumacki Biogen is laying off 113 employees from Reata Pharmaceuticals’ Plano, Texas site, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice. The layoffs, set to take effect in late November, come just months after Reata was acquired by Biogen for $7.3 billion in July 2023. At the time, Biogen had just launched a sweeping cost-reduction program which involved terminating around 1,000 employees in an effort to save $1 billion in operating expenses by 2025. Late last month, Biogen completed the acquisition of Reata. In an emailed statement to Endpoints News, a Biogen spokesperson confirmed the job cuts which will mostly affect “roles where there are existing synergies at Biogen.” The positions include general and administrative services, as well as some development-focused jobs. “We are retaining those colleagues who have been essential to the launch of Skyclarys to ensure ...
Sanofi appears to be considering a buyout of cancer drugmaker Mirati Therapeutics, according to Bloomberg reporting on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Deliberations surrounding the potential acquisition are ongoing and there is no certainty that Sanofi will push through with the deal, Bloomberg noted. Still, the possibility of the buyout has energized the market and Mirati was trading 45% higher Thursday afternoon in reaction to the rumors. A Sanofi spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the acquisition in a statement to Reuters, saying that the company does not comment on market rumors. Mirati was likewise tight-lipped about the matter. This is not new territory for Mirati. In October 2021, Merck had expressed interest in acquiring Mirati, according to people briefed on the matter. In November 2022, Mirati was attracting “fresh takeover interest” from large pharma companies, also reported by Bloomberg. At the time, the California-based biotech was still ...
In a patent case centered on two rival hemophilia medicines, Roche’s Genentech unit has scored its second straight win. After a U.S. district court last year ruled in favor of Roche and invalidated a patent held by Takeda’s Baxalta unit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reaffirmed the ruling. In the decision, U.S. Circuit Judge Timothy B. Dyk wrote that in order to be valid, patents must describe inventions “in such full, clear, concise and exact terms” so that any skilled person can make and use the same product “without undue experimentation.” In this case, Baxalta’s patent describes an antibody that binds to a protein that’s key to enable blood clotting. In its appeal, Baxalta argued that skilled practitioners can use a screening process that doesn’t amount to undue experimentation. But the circuit court shot down this argument, supporting the decision that the patent should be invalidated. ...
After the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revealed the list of drugs set to face the first round of price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the drugmakers responsible for marketing them are confronting a series of deadlines. First up, the companies need to tell CMS by Sunday whether they’ll participate in the process or exit the Medicare and Medicaid programs entirely. In a statement to Fierce Pharma, an AstraZeneca representative said the company plans to “participate in the process outlined by CMS to communicate the value of Farxiga to people covered by Medicare” as part of its commitment to ensuring access. BMS plans to begrudgingly participate in the process, a spokesperson told Fierce Pharma in an emailed statement. “If we did not sign, we’d be required to pay impossibly high penalties unless we withdraw all of our medicines from Medicare and Medicaid,” the spokesperson said. “That is ...
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