News

Novartis has entered into a licencing and collaboration agreement with Australia-based Mesoblast Ltd to further develop and commercialise remestemcel-L, an allogeneic cell therapy for the treatment of a number of inflammatory disorders. These include acute respiratory distress syndrome, and that associated with Covid-19. Acute respiratory distress syndrome is a type of respiratory failure characterised by the rapid onset of inflammation in the lungs.

A new drug combination has received an emergency use authorisation (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration for adults and children in hospital with Covid-19 and requiring supplemental oxygen or other life support measures. The treatment combines the anti-viral drug remdesivir with baricitinib, a marketed medicine for rheumatoid arthritis.

BioNTech SE of Germany and its partner Pfizer Inc, announced final Phase 3 data for their Covid-19 vaccine on 18 November which showed a vaccine efficacy rate of 95%. The vaccine BNT162b2 is based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. The study met all of its primary efficacy endpoints. The efficacy rate applies to participants without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, the first primary objective, and also to participants with and without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, the second primary objective.

Moderna Inc said that its candidate vaccine, mRNA-1273, was 94.5% effective in preventing Covid-19 disease in a large Phase 3 study that enrolled more than 30,000 participates in the US. The compound is a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine against Covid-19 encoding for a prefusion stabilised form of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. It was co-developed by Moderna and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

A new venture fund designed to provide seed funding to start-up companies in the UK life science sector has raised £15 million. Start Codon Fund I LP was created by the Start Codon business accelerator. The limited partner investors in the fund include Novartis International AG and Cambridge Innovation Capital, a venture investor focused on opportunities in the Cambridge University ecosystem.

Germany-based Cardior Pharmaceuticals GmbH has announced positive results from a Phase 1b study of its lead compound CDR132L, an antisense oligonucleotide, for heart failure. The study was performed in cooperation with Richmond Pharmacology Ltd in London, UK and the results were published in the European Heart Journal on 12 November 2020. In the trial, CDR132L met all the endpoints including safety and tolerability. The drug’s pharmacokinetic profile was found to be dose-dependently linear and target engagement data confirmed the mode of action.

Evotec SE posted further revenue gains in the nine months to 30 September on the strength of several new drug discovery alliances and the receipt of milestone payments from existing collaborators. Group revenue increased by 12% to €360.4 million and included gains from both its service and proprietary drug divisions. However operating profit declined by 24% to €35.3 million due to higher spending on sales and R&D, as well as a change in tax credit regulations in Italy.

MorphoSys AG nearly doubled revenue in the third quarter as it reaped the first benefits from its newly launched cancer treatment Monjuvi (tafasitamab). Revenue for the quarter increased to €22 million, up from €12.5 million a year earlier, of which €4.4 million represented sales of Monjuvi, an antibody therapeutic approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on 31 July. Monjuvi is to be used for the treatment, in combination with lenalidomide, of patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. It is MorphoSys’ first proprietary product to reach the market.

The Roche Group is to in-license viral vector technology from the German biotech company CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH in order to increase its manufacturing capacity for gene therapies. This will specifically enable the company’s subsidiary Spark Therapeutics to scale up production of its marketed product Luxturna for retinal diseases which is delivered by an adeno-associated virus (AAV). Luxturna was approved in the US for a rare form of inherited vision loss in 2017. An EU approval followed in 2018.

Bamlanivimab, a monoclonal antibody directed against the coronavirus spike protein, has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in patients with mild-to- moderate Covid-19. The emergency use authorisation (EUA) was issued on 9 November.