News

The small molecule drug, laquinimod, has failed to meet the primary endpoint in a Phase 2 study of patients with Huntington’s disease, a rare neurodegenerative disease. In May 2017 the same drug failed a Phase 3 trial in multiple sclerosis.

The drug is being developed by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd under licence from Active Biotech AB of Sweden. It is an immunomodulatory therapy that aims to prevent neurodegeneration and inflammation in the central nervous system.

An RNA therapeutic developed by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc is the newest drug to be recommended for the treatment of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR amyloidosis), a life-threatening disease caused by mutations in the transthyretin (TTR) gene.

The recently created Spanish healthcare company ADL Bionatur Solutions SA has raised €12 million in a share placement with institutional investors to support the development of products for human and animal health.

The company is the result of a reverse acquisition of Bionaturis, a biotech company, by ADL Biopharma, a contract manufacturer, and is listed on the Mercado Alternativo Bursátil, the junior market of the Spanish securities market.

After a strong first half year, Roche has raised its revenue guidance for 2018 and now expects sales to grow by a mid-single digit figure. Revenue in the first half was CHF 28.1 billion ($28.3 billion), up by 7% from a year earlier measured in both Swiss francs and in constant exchange rates.

Revenue for the second quarter was CHF 14.5 billion, also up by 7%.

AstraZeneca Plc said that it expects to end the year with higher product sales, offsetting the impact of generic competition for its legacy product Crestor. The expected increase would be in the low single digits, but it would be a major turning point for the company which more than others, has taken a hit from the expiry of patents on blockbuster products.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has announced a new R&D strategy that will focus on discovering drugs that modulate the immune system – a new frontier for cancer medicine – and one that also supports the company’s global vaccines business.

The strategy was announced on 25 July during a press briefing by Emma Walmsley, the chief executive, concurrent with the release of the company’s second-quarter results. Hal Barron, the company’s new chief scientific officer, was also on hand to explain some of the thinking behind the strategy.

Sangamo Therapeutics Inc has announced plans to acquire TxCell SA in a deal that will give it ownership of the French company’s regulatory T cell technology for the development of therapies against autoimmune diseases.

A new company has been launched in the UK to develop a peptide-based nanoparticle for the delivery of DNA and RNA into cells for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. The company, NanoGenics Ltd, aspires to replace the live vectors that are currently used to deliver gene therapies with a peptide-based nanoparticle which mimics natural viruses but with qualities enabling repeat dosing.

Kite Pharma, a unit of Gilead Sciences Inc, has entered into a strategic collaboration with Gadeta BV, a privately-held Dutch company, to discover and develop gamma delta T cell receptor (TRC) therapies for cancer. Kite’s first product, a chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for lymphoma. The company’s collaboration with Gadeta is focused on the treatment of solid tumours.

Novartis has negotiated an exclusive global licencing deal with MorphoSys AG and Galapagos NV for rights to their jointly developed monoclonal antibody for atopic dermatitis, MOR106. The antibody originated in MorphoSys’ laboratories and targets interleukin-17C, a cytokine that has been shown to play an important role in inflammatory skin disorders.