Storm Therapeutics Ltd has recruited the Nobel Laureate Thomas Cech to its scientific advisory board as the company looks to develop small molecule modulators of RNA epigenetics. Storm was founded in 2015 and has raised £16 million in Series A financing.
Sanofi SA has successfully wooed the board of Ablynx to agree to a merger that values the Belgian company at €3.9 billion, or 46 times its revenue for 2016. In early January, Ablynx rejected a €2.6 billion takeover bid from Novo Nordisk A/S.
The European Medicines Agency is recommending approval of a new medicine for haemophilia A developed by Roche that is intended to prevent bleeding or reduce the frequency of bleeding episodes in patients who have developed resistance to existing medicines.
The first patient to be treated with a wireless sub-retinal implant designed to correct for damage caused by dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has responded to the therapy, according to the developer Pixium Vision SA of France.
France-based Adocia SA has reported positive early results from a new formulation of existing diabetes medicines that is intended to act faster and last longer than the current standard of care.
An experimental therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which combines three compounds into single treatment has delivered statistically significant results in a Phase 3 trial, according to AstraZeneca Plc.
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.