The Roche Group is forecasting a decline in sales by a low single digit percentage at constant exchange rates this year due to a steep drop in sales for its Covid-19 diagnostic products. Excluding the Covid-19 effect, the company expects to show solid growth in the base business. Roche’s pharmaceuticals division continued to be the stronger player, generating three times the sales volume as that of diagnostics.
Sanofi SA ended the second quarter with a small 1.5% decline in net sales to €9.965 billion – a figure that was affected by movements in exchange rates. When measured in constant exchange rates, sales showed an increase of 3.3%. For the half year, net sales were €20.2 billion, up by 4.4% at constant exchange rates.
Evotec SE has updated its financial guidance for 2023 in light of a criminal cyberattack on its premises in the spring. The attack was disclosed on 6 April, affecting productivity throughout the entire second quarter. The company described the attack and explained how it handled the situation in a statement issued on 27 July.
A preclinical study of a candidate drug to treat opioid use disorder has shown an ability to reduce oxycodone intake and quell drug-seeking behaviour in an animal model. The drug, ADX106772, is a metabotropic glutamate 2 (mGlu2) positive allosteric modulator developed by Addex Therapeutics SA of Switzerland.
The Medicxi investment group has raised $400 million for a fourth investment fund, enabling it to continue supporting entrepreneurs with unique projects. “Our mission is to support the innovative genius of entrepreneurs by providing the critical capital, expertise and experience that form the all-important bridge to pharma,” said Francesco De Rubertis, co-founder and partner of the group, in a statement issued on 27 July.
GSK Plc has upgraded its financial guidance for 2023 following strong sales for its HIV products and general medicines division in the first six months of the year. Turnover was £13.9 billion for the first half, up by 13% from a year earlier and was £7.13 billion for the third quarter, up by 10%. These figures exclude sales of Covid-19 products developed for the pandemic which were down compared with the previous year. Strong demand was reported in the third quarter for the HIV medicines Cabenuva and Apretude, and for the respiratory drug Trelegy.
A new company has launched in the UK with the goal of using both ex vivo and in vivo cell therapy approaches for the treatment of ocular diseases. Tenpoint Therapeutics Ltd disclosed its plans on 12 July and concurrently announced a $70 million Series A financing led by F-Prime Capital, Sofinnova Partners, and British Patient Capital. The UCL Technology Fund was also part of the financing syndicate.
Switzerland-based Roche has entered into a partnership with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc to co-develop and commercialise an experimental RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic that has shown promise as a treatment for hypertension in patients at a high risk of cardiovascular disease. Announced on 24 July, the deal involves zilebesiran, a drug currently in Phase 2 which targets angiotensinogen, a protein implicated in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system which causes high blood pressure.
Bavarian Nordic A/S has discontinued its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine programme for adults 60 years and older after a Phase 3 study failed to show efficacy against lower-respiratory tract disease caused by the virus. The trial enrolled more than 20,000 adults who were randomised 1:1 to receive either a single dose of the vaccine, MVA-BN RSV, or a placebo.
The first clinical results from a microbiome therapy being developed for indolent non-Hodgkin B cell lymphoma were promising, indicating that a therapy based on synthetic peptides can successfully target multiple cancer cells, according to the developer Enterome SA. In a Phase 1/2 clinical study, EO2463, which consists of four synthetic peptides, selectively targeted multiple B cell markers, enabling the destruction of malignant B lymphocytes abundant in the cancer. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a slow-growing cancer of the white blood cells.