Company News

Following strong growth across its drug portfolio in the first half year, AstraZeneca Plc has upgraded its revenue and profit forecast for 2024 and reaffirmed its target for revenue at the end of the decade. Pascal Soriot, the chief executive, told journalists on 25 July that the company expects to deliver a mid-teen percentage increase in revenue and core earnings per share this year and a revenue figure of $80 billion by 2030. The 2030 forecast would represent a significant increase from the $45.8 billion delivered in 2023.

Mission Therapeutics Ltd of the UK, which is developing therapies targeting mitochondrial dysfunction, has received $5.2 million in grant funding to progress its lead small molecule drug for Parkinson’s disease into early clinical development. The award comes from the Michael J Fox Foundation and Parkinson’s UK and follows the disclosure of promising data from healthy volunteers that the drug, MTX325, has a good safety profile and can penetrate the blood-brain barrier. 

Novartis reported net sales of $12.5 billion in the second quarter, up by 9% from a year earlier on a reported basis, and by 11% at constant exchange rates. Driving growth were double digit increases for five products, and a 133% increase for Leqvio, a drug approved for treating cholesterol. On the strength of the sales increase, the company’s operating income rose by 43% to $4 billion on an IFRS basis. The non-IFRS operating result, excluding amortisation and impairment charges, was $5 billion, up by 17%. Sales’ volumes contributed 15 percentage points to the top line.

A venture syndicate led by Novo Holdings A/S, with participation from EQT Life Sciences, has raised $100 million for Asceneuron SA enabling it to advance a new product for Alzheimer’s disease. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, Asceneuron is developing a small molecule drug, ASN51, that inhibits an enzyme implicated in the aggregation of proteins in the brain. This is thought to have application for both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Destiny Pharma Plc has decided to exit the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and go private in order to raise money for the Phase 3 development of its lead antibiotic product XF-73 Nasal. The wholly-owned product delivered promising data in a Phase 2 study and has been poised for the next stage pending a licensing partner.

A syndicate of leading European and US investors has raised €63 million for SciRhom GmbH of Germany which is developing a treatment for autoimmune diseases by modulating an enzyme controlling several major signalling pathways. The Series A financing will enable SciRhom to bring its lead product candidate – a monoclonal antibody – into clinical development before the end of the year. The investment round was co-led by Andera Partners, Kurma Partners, Hadean Ventures, MIG Capital and Wellington Partners. PhiFund Ventures of the US also participated.

Eli Lilly and Co is to pay $3.2 billion to acquire a US company with a pipeline of preclinical and clinical assets targeting integrin molecules for the treatment of gastrointestinal and other chronic diseases. The company, Morphic Holding Inc, is located near Boston and has a lead product, MORF-057, in Phase 2 for the potential treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Lilly is to pay $57 per share in cash for the company, which represents a premium of about 79% over the company’s closing share price on 5 July. 

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Eli Lilly and Co’s drug for early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, less than a month after it received the unanimous support from an outside panel of advisers. The Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee voted 11 to zero on 10 June to recommend approval. The drug, Kisunla (donanemab), is a treatment for early symptomatic disease including people with mild cognitive impairment.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the third leading cause of death worldwide. Ohtuvayre (ensifentrine), developed by Verona Pharma Plc, is an inhaled therapy for the maintenance treatment of COPD, a disease that is mainly caused by tobacco smoking. It was authorised by the FDA on 26 June.

Zealand Pharma A/S completed an upsized equity offering on 26 June with the placement of 8.35 million shares with investors raising gross proceeds of DKK 7 billion ($1 billion). This will enable it to finance its prospective peptide-based medicines for obesity and metabolic and rare diseases well into the future. The directed share issue and private placement exceeded the initial targeted amount by $100 million.