Novartis has negotiated commercialisation rights outside the US to Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl) – the first gene therapy to be approved in the US for an inherited retinal disease. The therapy was developed by Spark Therapeutics Inc which retains US rights to the drug.
Norgine Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of the specialty pharma company Norgine NV, has announced a €4.5 million investment in a Spanish company with wireless medical device technologies.
Novartis delivered a small 1% increase in net sales in 2017 as it faced more competition from producers of generic versions of its older medicines. But sales were stronger in the fourth quarter and for 2018 as a whole, the company expects a further recovery.
Novartis has reported positive results from a late-stage clinical trial showing that its monoclonal antibody erenumab provided relief to patients with migraine who have been unsuccessful in treating their disease with two to four other therapies.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co has reported positive results for a checkpoint inhibitor combination therapy in patients with a specific type of metastatic colorectal cancer. It combines Opdivo (nivolumab), a PD-1 inhibitor, and Yervoy (ipilimumab), an inhibitor of CTLA-4.
A Phase 3 trial of a novel anticancer drug developed by Spain’s PharmaMar SA for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer failed to reach its primary endpoint of progression free survival compared with topotecan chemotherapy or liposomal doxorubicin. The drug, Zepsyre (lurbinectedin), inhibits RNA polymerase II.
Celgene Corp is to acquire Juno Therapeutics Inc for $9 billion in an agreed merger that will give the New Jersey, US-based company a stake in the market for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies for cancer, currently dominated by Novartis and Gilead Sciences Inc.
Sanofi SA has announced plans to pay $11.6 billion to acquire Bioverativ Inc of Waltham, Massachusetts, US in order to enhance its position in specialty care. Bioverativ has two marketed products for haemophilia A and B.
Among the technologies in development to treat cancer, ex-vivo gene therapy has gained the most traction in the past 12 months. This follows regulatory approvals for therapies from Novartis and Gilead Sciences Inc where cells are extracted from a patient, treated in a laboratory and reinfused back into the patient.
UK-based Abcam Plc has gained exclusive rights to a portfolio of laboratory tools from Roche giving it a new source of recombinant antibodies for use by its customers in research. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.