Science has named the development of glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists and this year’s discovery that these drugs can blunt obesity-associated health problems as its 2023 Breakthrough of The Year. Although obesity’s causes span genetic, physiological, environmental, and social factors, as a medical problem, obesity’s risks can be life-threatening – including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, liver disease, and certain cancers. Drug treatments for obesity have had “a sorry past, one often intertwined with social pressure to lose weight and the widespread belief that excess weight reflects weak willpower,” writes Jennifer Couzin-Frankel in the Breakthrough news feature. However, a new class of drug therapies for weight loss has emerged and is showing promising results. Originally developed to treat diabetes nearly 20 years ago, the excitement surrounding GLP-1 drugs to treat obesity has recently exploded. And this year, two landmark clinical trials that showed in large numbers that GLP-1 agonists produced meaningful ...
On December 13, 2023, Fosun Pharma announced that its medical device subsidiary has signed a cooperation agreement with Insightec on December 12, to establish a joint venture in China, Fosun Insightec Medical Technology Company Limited* (hereinafter referred to as “Fosun Insightec”). Fosun Insightec will focus on the commercialization, clinical application and research of the Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound (MRFU) Brain Therapy System (i.e. Magnetic Wave Knife Brain Therapy System) in China, which will help Parkinson’s Disease patients and patients with idiopathic tremor to regain a high quality of life. In addition, Fosun Meditech plans to establish strategic partnerships with a number of medical centers in China to further explore the potential application of the Magnetic Wave Knife in neurological diseases and benefit a wider range of patients. Mr. Liu Yi, Senior Vice President of Fosun Pharma and Chairman and CEO of the Medical Device Division, said that he is ...
With approval granted from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Merz Therapeutics’ Xeomin (incobotulinumtoxinA) enters the Australian market as the first and only neurotoxin treatment for chronic sialorrhea or excessive drooling in adults and children. Xeomin, a botulinum toxin type A with accessory proteins, is designed to block the release of neurotransmitter acetylcholine, thereby inhibiting signal transduction and incapacitating the body’s ability to contract voluntary muscles. Sialorrhea is a common symptom associated with Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), cerebral palsy (CP), stroke, and acquired brain injuries. The TGA approval follows a series of greenlights by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The drug, which is currently approved for adults and children in the US, was originally granted approval in the EU to treat chronic sialorrhea in adults in 2019. The EMA approval was awarded based on data from the Phase III SIAXI ...
MSD has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Caraway Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $610m. MSD will acquire the Massachusetts-based small molecule therapeutics company through one of its subsidiaries. The $610m consideration includes undisclosed upfront and milestone-based payments. MSD plans to expense the upfront payment as part of its Q4 2023 expenses, as per a 21 November press release. MSD has been a Caraway shareholder through its subsidiary, MRL Ventures Fund. As per the agreement, the company will “acquire all outstanding shares of Caraway with earnout milestones associated with the development of certain pipeline candidates”. The transaction has already been approved by Caraway’s board of directors. Caraway has a preclinical pipeline of therapies for neurogenerative diseases, especially Parkinson’s disease. Caraway’s lead preclinical candidate targets the transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily (TRPML1), which is located on lysosomes and regulates their enzymatic activity. As lysosomal dysregulation has been seen ...
NRx Pharmaceuticals and Nephron Pharmaceuticals have come together in a bid to develop the first FDA-approved intravenous ketamine treatment for suicidal depression. The partnership will see NRx developing the drug while giving Nephron the responsibility of manufacturing the product. As per chief scientist and director Dr. Jonathan Javitt, NRx aims to deliver a two-year shelf-stable ketamine formulation to patients by November 2024. Nephron is in the process of setting the stage for submitting an New Drug Application (NDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the drug. The target deadline for filing the application is 1 March, 2024, said Nephron CEO Lou Kennedy. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide rates have risen by approximately 36% from 2000-2021, with suicide being the second leading cause of death in 2021 for individuals in the age groups of 10 –14 years and 20 –34 years. ...
Despite the promise of cell therapies, manufacturing the personalized medicines at scale has been a limiting factor for many companies. Now, as BlueRock Therapeutics advances its lead prospect, its parent company Bayer is ready to kick production into high gear.Bayer on Tuesday opened its first Cell Therapy Launch Facility in Berkeley, California, which is expected to create capacity to bring cell therapies to patients worldwide. Bayer has invested $250 million to build the plant, which will initially crank out materials for late-stage clinical trials across 100,000 square feet of space, the drugmaker said in a release. The plant is also equipped to support the potential commercial launch of BlueRock’s experimental cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease, bemdaneprocel. At the moment, BlueRock says planning is underway for its phase 2 study of bemdaneprocel, which is expected to start enrolling patients in the first half of 2024. The plant features flexible, modular space ...
Addition strengthens neuroscience pipeline, company says. Image Credit: Adobe Stock Images/chinnarach AbbVie announced that it has exercised its exclusive right and completed the acquisition of Mitokinin, a biotech company focused on developing treatments for Parkinson’s disease. Under terms of the acquisition, AbbVie will pay Mitokinin shareholders $110 million at closing for the acquisition of Mitokinin, with shareholders remaining eligible for potential additional payments of up to $545 million upon the achievement of certain development and commercial milestones related to Pink1, Mitokinin’s lead compound designed to address mitochondrial dysfunction that is believed to be a major contributing factor to Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis and progression. “Parkinson’s disease continues to be a major unmet medical need, impacting patients, caregivers and society. With this acquisition, we are excited to grow our neuroscience portfolio and explore a potential new treatment option for PD,” said Jonathon Sedgwick, PhD, VP, global head of discovery research, AbbVie. “While ...
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has announced that it has committed up to €127m in funding to develop and manufacture a new cell therapy facility, Cellerator, in Denmark, to help fight chronic diseases. The new Novo Nordisk Foundation, Cellerator, will be used for the final development steps of animal research and upscaling new cell therapies for testing in humans. This will help to accelerate treatments for people with diseases including chronic heart failure, Parkinson’s disease, kidney disease, type 1 diabetes and several forms of cancer. Cell therapies work by transplanting living cells into patients to treat diseases. It’s estimated that one in three adults suffers from multiple chronic conditions. In the US alone, it’s been calculated that out of 58 million deaths in 2005, chronic disease was responsible for 35 million. The funding follows a report prepared for the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, which came to the conclusion ...
By Tristan Manalac Pictured: Illustration of amyloid oligomers/iStock, selvanegra A follow-on analysis of a landmark Phase IIb/III study showed that Anavex Life Sciences’ investigational drug blarcamesine significantly slowed down cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the company announced Thursday. At 48 weeks, the change in the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale version 13 (ADAS-Cog13) scores in blarcamesine-treated patients was significantly better than placebo comparators. Blarcamesine was likewise significantly better than placebo when cognition was evaluated using the Clinical Dementia Rating scale Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB) scale, according to Anavex’s news release. The company bolstered these clinical findings with biomarker data, which showed that blarcamesine treatment resulted in a significant drop in pathological amyloid beta levels and a corresponding improvement in Aβ42/40 ratio, pointing to the molecule’s strong anti-amyloid potential. Anavex’s drug candidate also resulted in lower brain volume loss versus placebo. When it came to safety, the most common ...
By Tristan Manalac AstraZeneca, through its rare disease division Alexion, has entered into a multi-target agreement with Verge Genomics to discover and develop drugs against novel targets in rare neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases, the companies announced Friday. Under the agreement, Alexion will make a $42 million payment in upfront fees, as well as equity and near-term investments. Counting milestones, the four-year collaboration can yield up to $840 million for Verge, plus potential royalties down the line. Alongside the drug discovery pact, AstraZeneca will also take an equity position in Verge. In return, Alexion will gain access to the California biotech’s proprietary full-stack CONVERGE platform, which applies machine learning to human tissue data in order to identify novel disease targets that have a high probability of yielding clinical success. Friday’s partnership will apply the AI-driven approach to several yet-undisclosed rare neurodegenerative and neuromuscular conditions. Alexion will have the option to select ...
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.