News

A prospective treatment for patients with schizophrenia, who have not responded to other drugs, failed to show statistical superiority in a Phase 3 trial compared with conventional therapy, H. Lundbeck A/S announced on 25 October.

The treatment, Lu AF35700, is a dopamine D1 and D2 antagonist with a high occupancy of the 5-HT2A and 5-HT6 serotonin receptors. The relatively low D2 receptor occupancy compared with the D1 receptor was expected to result in a better side effect profile.

AbbVie Inc is to take full control of a joint cystic fibrosis (CF) research and development programme with Galapagos NV with the goal of bringing a triple combination CF therapy to the market. Currently in early clinical development, the programme consists of potentiator and corrector drug molecules that are intended to increase the activity of mutated copies of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator protein that causes the disease.

France-based Enterome SA has out-licensed its lead microbiome-directed product for the treatment of Crohn’s disease to Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd for the treatment of Crohn’s disease, generating an upfront payment of $50 million, a future equity investment and potential milestone payments of $640 million.

Positive data from two Phase 2 studies of filgotinib, a Janus kinase 1 inhibitor being developed for several inflammatory conditions, were published online on 22 October 2018 in The Lancet, Gilead Sciences Inc and Galapagos NV announced.

The first trial, called EQUATOR, is in patients with psoriatic arthritis. The second, TORTUGA, is in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis that primarily affects the spine.

The European Medicines Agency has recommended the approval of Dengvaxia (dengue tetravalent vaccine) for the prevention of dengue, the most common mosquito-borne viral disease affecting people worldwide. The vaccine is for the prevention of dengue caused by the virus serotypes 1,2,3 and 4 in people between the ages of nine and 45 and who have already had a prior infection.

The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy has invested in a chimeric antigen receptor T cell technology developed by Xyphos Biosciences Inc of South San Francisco, US which claims the platform is safer and more effective than existing approaches. Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.

Amgen Inc has made a £50 million equity investment in Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd of the UK as part of its strategy of using genetic data to develop new medicines. Amgen’s subsidiary deCODE Genetics of Iceland currently uses Oxford Nanopore’s sequencing technologies to conduct genome research including the identification and validation of new drug targets.

Novartis has announced plans to expand its presence in the field of radiopharmaceuticals with the acquisition of Endocyte Inc, a US company with drug conjugation technology for developing targeted therapies with companion imaging agents. The deal is valued at $2.1 billion.

Novartis reported a 3% rise in net sales to $12.8 billion for the third quarter of 2018, but operating profit dropped by 18% to $1.9 billion following the company’s voluntary withdrawal from the market of a surgical stent for glaucoma patients after a post-marketing study showed damage to patients’ eyes five years after treatment.

The Roche group reported sales of CHF 42.1 billion ($42.5 billion) for the first nine months of 2018, up by 7% from a year earlier led by strong demand in the US for its cancer medicines and a new multiple sclerosis drug. The Switzerland-based company does not provide earnings figures for the third quarter.

Nevertheless it is forecasting a further increase in its dividend in Swiss francs for the year. In 2017, the company paid a dividend of CHF 8.30 per share.