Johnson & Johnson’s acquisition of antibody drug conjugate developer Ambrx Biopharma comes as Novartis and Merck also unveiled M&A deals on the first day of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference. In a report, the investment bank said big pharmas are looking for deals involving de-risked assets. By FRANK VINLUAN Big pharmaceutical companies splashed out big bucks in 2023 to acquire or license antibody drug conjugates, or ADCs. The trend is continuing into the new year with Johnson & Johnson reaching a $2 billion deal to acquire clinical-stage Ambrx Biopharma. According to deal terms announced Monday, J&J will pay $28 cash for each Ambrx share, which is a 105% premium to the biotech’s closing stock price on Friday. In other biopharma deal announcements, Merck is paying $680 million to acquire Harpoon Therapeutics, a developer of targeted cancer therapies, and Novartis is buying autoimmune disease drug developer Calypso Biotech for $250 ...
San Francisco—Nearly all top cancer drugmakers have struck deals in the sizzling antibody-drug conjugate field—but not Novartis. On Monday, the Swiss pharma’s CEO Vas Narasimhan explained how he’s resisted the temptation. The answer is radioligand therapies, Narasimhan said Monday during the 2024 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in response to a question from Fierce Pharma. “We have a long history within research of ADCs, but we have not been successful,” Narasimhan said. “To be clear, part of our focus strategy is looking at places where we think we can create long-term sustainable leadership. And we are investing in radioligand therapies.” ADCs and radioligand therapies are similar in that both technologies act as guided missiles. For ADCs, the guiding force is an antibody, and the cancer-killing payload is a chemotherapy. A radioligand therapy uses a ligand to target cancer cells and kills them with a therapeutic radioisotope. Radiotherapies may have a safety ...
After a pair of high-profile approvals for sickle cell disease gene therapies in the U.S. last month, Pfizer is ushering in the New Year with a regulatory endorsement for its hemophilia B gene therapy north of the border. Health Canada has approved Pfizer’s adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector-based gene therapy, Beqvez, for the treatment of certain adults with hemophilia B, the company said Wednesday. Specifically, the agency endorsed the drug to treat patients with moderate to severe disease who are negative for neutralizing antibodies to variant AAV serotype Rh74. The approval is based on an open-label, single-arm study called BENEGENE-2, which enrolled 45 patients and met its primary goal. In the study, Pfizer’s drug demonstrated noninferiority and superiority to the standard of care, a recurrent Factor IX regimen, on the measure of annualized bleeding rates. Traditionally, patients with hemophilia B have needed to receive routine infusions of Factor IX treatment to ...
In 2022, fueled by its powerhouse COVID products, Pfizer became the first company in the history of the biopharma industry to top $100 billion in annual revenue. What would the New York drugmaker do for an encore? In 2023, Pfizer went from generating the most sales in the industry to gaining the most approvals. With seven FDA nods in 2023, Pfizer had more than double that of any other company. It’s also more than twice as many as every drugmaker over each of the last three years. You need to go back to 2019, when Novartis scored six approvals, to find a company that approached what Pfizer accomplished in 2023. Pfizer’s splurge included four approvals in a dizzying five weeks in May and June. And all but one of the seven products has been pegged by analysts as a potential blockbuster. Two of the newly approved Pfizer treatments were acquired ...
Here is a selection of recent executive hires, promotions and layoffs occurring across the healthcare industry. By KATIE ADAMS This roundup will be published monthly. It is meant to highlight some of healthcare’s recent hiring news and is not intended to be comprehensive. If you have news about an executive appointment, resignation or layoff that you would like to share for this roundup or the MedCity Moves podcast, please reach out to moves@medcitynews.com. Here is a selection of recent executive hires, promotions, departures and layoffs occurring across the healthcare industry. Hires Aledade, an independent primary care network focused on value-based care, brought Rosemary Weldon onto its team as its new chief product officer. She spent the last decade at CVS Health, where she most recently served as vice president of digital health product management. Amgen welcomed James Bradner to its C-suite, where he now serves as chief scientific officer and ...
Armed with a new victory over Viatris in a patent dispute, Regeneron can knock off one contender in the Eylea biosimilar race. A West Virginia judge ruled that Viatris’ proposed biosimilar violates a Regeneron patent that covers ophthalmic formulations of a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-specific fusion protein antagonist suitable for intravitreal administration to the eye. That patent is expected to expire in June 2027. Viatris, a generic and biosimilar specialist created by Pfizer through the combination of its Upjohn business with Mylan back in 2020, was the first to file for a coveted Eylea biosimilar in 2021. Regeneron struck back with its suit in 2022, arguing that the proposed copycat steps on 24 of its patents. The complaint was later trimmed to three, according to Bloomberg. Viatris has since offloaded its biosimilars unit to Biocon Biologics in a $3.33 billion cash-and-stock deal. Amgen tried to get into the litigation ...
Dec 23 (Reuters) – Bayer has won a trial in a lawsuit brought by a California man who said he developed cancer from exposure to its Roundup weedkiller, ending what had been a five-trial losing streak for the company in trials over similar claims. The verdict was handed down on Friday by a jury in San Benito County, California Superior Court, Bayer announced. The company said in a statement that the verdict was “consistent with the evidence in this case that Roundup does not cause cancer and is not responsible for the plaintiff’s illness.” Lawyers for plaintiff Bruce Jones did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Like most plaintiffs in Roundup lawsuits, Jones alleged that the product caused him to develop a form of cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Around 165,000 claims have been made against the company for personal injuries allegedly caused by Roundup, which Bayer acquired as part ...
Even with the Federal Trade Commission keeping a watchful eye on the biopharma industry and the economic landscape giving some players pause, mergers and acquisitions are back on the rise. And it is with cautious optimism that industry watchers see the trend continuing in 2024. Wielding plenty of firepower, drugmakers are more likely to make higher-value deals in the new year as they address growth challenges that loom later in the decade because of patent cliffs and the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act. “Executives will continue to deploy cash balances and seek out areas of innovation and clinical differentiation,” PricewaterhouseCoopers wrote in its Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences: U.S. Deals 2024 Outlook. “As regulators’ perspectives on key deal factors become better understood, there may be a return of larger deals, along with continued interest in the $5 billion to $15 billion deals to fill targeted strategic gaps.” Look no further ...
Pharmaceutical Executive Editorial Staff If approved by the FDA, Xolair would be the first drug indicated to lower allergic reactions to multiple foods after an accidental exposure, including peanut, milk, and egg allergies. The FDA has granted Priority Review to Genentech’s supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Xolair (omalizumab) for the treatment of allergic reactions, such as anaphylaxis, that may result from an accidental exposure to one or more foods in patients aged 1 year and older with a food allergy. If the FDA approves the application, Xolair would be the first drug indicated to lower allergic reactions to multiple foods after an accidental exposure. Roche said it expects the FDA to decide on the approval in the first quarter of 2024. “Despite the significant and growing health burden from food allergies, treatment advances have been limited,” said Levi Garraway, MD, PhD, Genentech’s chief medical officer and head of Global ...
Genentech’s brief leadership interregnum is coming to an end as the company’s interim chief executive, Ashley Magargee, prepares to take a permanent place on the throne. Magargee, who was tapped to temporarily steer the Roche subsidiary in November, will don the mantle of full-time CEO on Jan. 1, 2024, Genentech said Tuesday. Magargee, who most recently headed up Genentech’s commercial portfolio in addition to her interim CEO duties, is taking the place of Alexander Hardy. Hardy hit the exit back in November and now serves as CEO of BioMarin. Having served at Genentech since 2004, Magargee is no stranger to the South San Francisco-based drugmaker. In terms of her leadership pedigree, Magargee has operated in senior management positions at both Roche and Genentech across life cycle management, digital customer experience and market access, Genentech said in a release. Genentech and its Swiss parent Roche have been locked in a complicated ...
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