Novartis achieved a double digit increase in operating profit during the first quarter as sales rose strongly and expenses declined. Even taking upcoming generic competition for three products later in the year, the company is forecasting a high single-digit rise in sales for 2025 and a low double-digit increase in core operating profit. The core operating profit excludes the amortisation and impairment of intangible assets.
Novartis is to pay up to $1.7 billion to buy Regulus Therapeutics Inc of San Diego, US, in a deal that will strengthen its portfolio of treatments for kidney disease. The deal also puts a spotlight on microRNA, a drug target that affects gene expression without coding for a protein. Regulus has an early clinical stage product for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, a serious genetic disorder that can lead to end-stage renal disease. The product, farabursen, is an oligonucleotide designed to inhibit a microRNA known as miR-17.
GSK Plc expects that turnover will increase by 3 to 5% at constant exchange rates this year, in line with the group’s performance in the first quarter. A more robust increase of 6 to 8% is expected for core operating profit following measures by the company to improve efficiency. The core operating figure excludes the amortisation and impairement of intangible assets.
AstraZeneca Plc expects revenue for the year to increase by a high single-digit percentage following a first quarter in which the figure reached $13.588 billion. This represented an increase of 7% on a reported basis, and 10% at constant exchange rates from the previous year. Core earnings per share are expected to rise by a low double-digit percentage, after increasing by 21% in the first three months. The core measure excludes amortisation and impairment charges for intangible assets.
Blenrep (belantamab mafodotine), an antibody-drug conjugate given speedy approvals in both the US and the EU in 2020, and later withdrawn for insufficient efficacy, has won approval for a new market entry in the UK on the basis of two combination studies. The drug was developed by GSK Plc to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, the third most common blood cancer globally.
The Alzheimer’s disease drug, Leqembi (lecanemab), has been approved by the European Commission following extra reviews of the product’s safety. The decision was announced on 16 April by the product’s co-developer BioArctic AB which will make the drug available to adults with a clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. The patient group is specifically identified as people who have only one, or no copy, of the ApoE4 gene, a risk factor for the disease.
A vaccine designed to prevent disease caused by the chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne virus, has been approved in Brazil, an endemic country. Developed by Valneva SE of France, the vaccine IXCHIQ, is intended for individuals 18 years and older. Chikungunya disease, which causes muscle pain and joint swelling, has occurred in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is a risk that the virus could spread to unaffected areas by travellers.
A digital twin lung simulation technology, Twinhale, has been used for the first time in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in a groundbreaking new study. The study by Munich, Germany-based company Ebenbuild, supports the development of a novel inhaled anti-CCN2 (formerly called CTGF) biologic, PRS-220, developed by Pieris Pharmaceuticals - now Pavella Therapeutics Inc.
A new drug for haemophilia that targets antithrombin, a protein that inhibits blood clotting, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Discovered by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc and licensed to Sanofi SA, Qfitlia (fitusiran) will be used to treat patients with both haemophilia A and haemophilia B with or without inhibitors. The standard treatment for patients with haemophilia are clotting factor replacement therapies where patients with haemophilia A receive replacement for factor VIII and those with haemophilia B, replacement for factor IX.
Isomorphic Labs Ltd, a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence for drug discovery, announced a capital raise of $600 million on 31 March, the company’s first external financing since its launch in 2021. Isomorphic is a spin-out of the DeepMind laboratory of Alphabet Inc, the parent of Google, and led by Demis Hassabis, a Nobel laureate. DeepMind is the developer of the AlphaFold artificial intelligence programme. Isomorphic will use the new funds to develop a portfolio of drugs both in-house and in partnership with Novartis and Eli Lilly and Co.