UK researchers have reported sequencing the whole genomes of a human donor and a patient using a hand-held device based on nanopore technology. The device was developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd, a venture capital-backed company based in Oxford UK.
Solanezumab, a monoclonal antibody that was being tested in patients with mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease, won’t be submitted for registration following the drug’s failure to meet its primary endpoint in a Phase 3 trial, Eli Lilly and Company announced on 23 November.
Juno Therapeutics Inc of the US suspended a trial of its chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for leukaemia for a second time on 23 November following the deaths of two patients from cerebral edema.
Ablynx NV is poised to consult regulatory authorities in the US and Europe on plans for the Phase 3 development of its biologic for rheumatoid arthritis vobarilizumab. The Belgium-based company will also initiate discussions with potential partners for the drug.
Recruitment for Phase 3 clinical trials of AstraZeneca’s treatment for head and neck cancer, both mono and combination therapies, has been suspended by the US regulator because of bleeding by some of the patients, the UK company disclosed on 27 October.
Patients with head and neck cancer who were treated with nivolumab experienced a better quality of life than those treated with chemotherapy, according to an outcomes study released on 9 October at the European Society for Medical Oncology congress in Copenhagen.
France-based Innate Pharma SA said data from a Phase 1 study of its antibody lirilumab administered with nivolumab to patients with refractory solid tumours, showed a similar safety profile to that of nivolumab alone. The data were presented on 9 October at ESMO.
A study by clinicians at the Universities of Leuven and Ghent in Belgium, together with the University of Oxford, has shown that better use of a point-of-care diagnostic can help general practitioners determine which children need hospitalisation because of a serious disease and which can remain at home.
Sanofi SA has received a second multi-million dollar contract from the US government’s biomedical advanced research and development authority (BARDA) for research into new medicinal products – this time for a product to treat acute radiation syndrome in the event of a public health emergency.
Alnylam Pharmaceutials Inc, the world’s leading developer of therapies based on RNA interference (RNAi) , has stopped development of revusiran, a treatment for a hereditary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, a condition caused by the abnormal accumulation of amyloid proteins in the body.