Company News

Sandoz, the generics division of Novartis, has completed the acquisition of the Japanese business of Aspen Global Inc, expanding its presence in Japan, the third largest market for generics in the world. Aspen’s portfolio consists of about 20 products with a focus on ana+esthetics and specialty medicines. The acquisition gives Sandoz a dedicated sales, marketing and medical organisation enabling it to deal directly with hospitals.

Sandoz is paying €300 million upfront for the assets and €100 million after the closing of the deal.

Novartis continued to focus on proprietary drug development in 2019 while giving its Sandoz generics unit more autonomy within the company. Acquisitions and divestments continued to shape the business. During the year, Novartis spun out its Alcon eye division with its portfolio of ophthalmic surgical products, and spent $3.4 billion upfront to acquire a treatment for dry eye disease from Takeda Pharmaceutical Col Ltd. It also agreed to pay $9.7 billion to acquire The Medicines Company and its late stage product inclisiran for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Quench Bio Inc, a start-up biotech incubated by venture capitalists, has been launched in Cambridge, Mass, US to develop small molecule drugs for chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The launch was announced on 27 January concurrent with $50 million in Series A financing.

Switzerland-based GeNeuro SA has raised €17.5 million in a private share placement, enabling it to complete a new clinical trial of its experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis temelimab. The trial will be conducted at the Karolinska Institutet and the Academic Specialist Center in Stockholm, Sweden and is expected to report results in the second half of 2021.

A combination of the anti-platelet medicine Brilinta (ticagrelor) with aspirin can reduce the risk of stroke and death in patients with minor acute ischaemic stroke or at high risk of a transient ischaemic attack, according to AstraZeneca Plc. Data from a Phase 3 trial involving more than 11,000 patients showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction in the risk of stroke for those who received Brilinta and aspirin compared with aspirin alone.

Autolus Therapeutics Plc has raised a gross $80 million from a secondary offering on Nasdaq to support the ongoing clinical development of its engineered T cell therapies for cancer. After deducting expenses, the net proceeds for the company were $74.2 million. Autolus is a portfolio company of Syncona Ltd and has a pipeline of candidate products for the treatment of haematological malignancies and solid tumours.

The company made an initial public offering of shares on Nasdaq in 2018 and went back to the market the following year to raise $100.8 million.

A new epigenetic medicine has been approved in the US to treat epithelioid sarcoma, a rare sub-type of soft tissue sarcoma that affects young adults. The drug, Tazverik (tazemetostat), is a small molecule inhibitor of EZH2 methyltransferase which regulates gene expression. By blocking the activity of EZH2, the drug is expected to keep cancer cells from growing. The Food and Drug Administration announced the authorisation on 23 January.

A new drug has been approved in the US for thyroid eye disease, a rare condition in which the muscles and fatty tissues behind the eye become inflamed, causing the eyes to bulge. Tepezza (teprotumumab) is a monoclonal antibody that targets the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor with the goal of modifying the course of the disease. In issuing the approval, the Food and Drug Administration said Tepezza is the first non-surgical treatment for thyroid eye disease, which can cause eye pain, double vision and sensitivity to light.

A Phase 3 trial of a lipid-lowering drug involving more than 13,000 patients has been discontinued after the study’s monitors concluded the medicine was unlikely to deliver benefits to patients. The sponsor, AstraZeneca Plc, was attempting to show that patients with mixed dyslipidaemia who are at risk of cardiovascular disease could be helped by Epanova (omega-3 carboxylic acids), a compound derived from fish oil. The patients were all on optimal statin therapy. But the independent data monitoring committee concluded that a benefit was unlikely.

Germany-based Medigene AG has reported positive top-line data from an early clinical study of a dendritic cell vaccine for cancer which showed both safety and tolerability as well as early signs of efficacy. The vaccine was administered to 20 patients with acute myeloid leukaemia, of whom half were 60 years of age or older. This patient cohort is often ineligible for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and has poorer treatment outcomes, the company said. The balance of patients were younger than 60 years.