A widely prescribed monoclonal antibody for patients with wet age-related macular degeneration, Lucentis (ranibizumab), has been approved in the US for a new indication – diabetic retinopathy in patients with diabetic macular oedema.
Sanofi SA expects that earnings per share this year will be stable to slightly higher against a background of change affecting its diabetes portfolio. The company’s new insulin glargine Toujeo is under regulatory review with a decision expected in the US in the first quarter.
2014 was a year of growth for AstraZeneca Plc as the company restocked its late-stage portfolio and invested in collaborations that will strengthen its core therapeutic areas of cardiovascular and metabolic medicines, respiratory drugs and oncology. Revenue was up by 3% on a currency adjusted basis. But 2015 is expected to be tougher as generic competition emerges in the US for Nexium, the proton pump inhibitor that was a pillar of the company’s sales for many years.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc finished 2014 with turnover and operating profit broadly lower compared with a year earlier on the back of a drop in respiratory medicine sales in the US. Global vaccine and consumer healthcare sales also declined.
Ascendis Pharma A/S of Denmark has issued 6.9 million shares in the United States at $18 per share, generating net proceeds of $111.5 million. In early trading on 3 February 2015 the shares traded at $19.08 on the Nasdaq, representing a 6.0% premium.
AstraZeneca Plc is to work with four research institutes in the UK and the US to apply a genome editing technology known as CRISPR across its drug discovery platform. The collaborations are expected to yield new drug targets in preclinical models of disease.
Canada-based EnGene Inc, which has developed a gene-based technology to treat autoimmune diseases, has raised $11.5 million in a Series B investment round. The funds will be used to advance the lead product which is intended to treat ulcerative colitis.
NightstaRx Ltd, a one-year old gene therapy company, has received £5 million in new venture finance to expedite the development of a treatment for choroideremia, an inherited cause of progressive blindness. This brings total funding for the company to £17 million.
Roche stepped up its acquisition activity in 2014 with the goal of broadening its pharmaceutical base and augmenting its diagnostics business with new gene sequencing technologies. Sales of oncology drugs were a key growth driver, but at least one late-stage cancer trial failed to show statistical superiority.
Novartis expects that group net sales will continue to grow this year despite an increase in generic competition for its off-patent medicines. Cost savings, and the completion of an asset swap with GlaxoSmithKline Plc that will narrow the company’s focus to three global businesses, is expected to drive profitability.