Interim results from a Phase 3 trial in Guinea of a candidate vaccine against the Ebola virus have shown the agent to be safe and effective within six to 10 days of vaccination. The trial data were announced by Merck & Co Inc and published online in The Lancet on 31 July.
Shire Plc is set to pay $300 million to acquire privately-held Foresight Biotherapeutics Inc which has a late-stage candidate drug for infectious conjunctivitis which is under investigation for both viral and bacterial forms of the disease.
Shire Plc has made an unsolicited offer valued at about $30 billion to acquire a recent spinout from Baxter International Inc which potentially could double Shire’s revenue.
Ipsen SA reported consolidated revenue of €751.9 million for the first-half year, up by 12.4% from a year earlier, but its operating income slumped by 29.3% to €103.4 million largely because of the higher cost of sales.
A new company has been set up in the UK to acquire clinical assets that large pharma companies may not be in a position to develop further. The first programmes acquired by Mereo BioPharma Group Ltd are three mid-stage clinical assets from Novartis.
Sanofi SA reported revenue of €9.4 billion in the 2015 second quarter, up by 16.1% on a reported basis, driven in part by sales from its Genzyme unit and a strengthening of the dollar against the euro. At constant exchange rates, the increase was 4.9%.
Pharming Group NV more than doubled its revenue in the 2015 first-half as sales of Ruconest, its treatment for hereditary angioedema (HAE) gained momentum following US regulatory approval in July 2014. The approval came nearly four years after the drug was authorised in Europe.
AstraZeneca Plc reported revenue of $6.3 billion for the second quarter, which was an increase of 2% when expressed in constant exchange rates, enabling the company to declare six successive quarters of top-line growth and to revise upward its guidance for 2015.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc expects to see earnings grow again in 2016 following a reshaping of its business to focus on pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare and reducing its dependence on the off-patent respiratory medicine Advair.
MorphoSys AG has confirmed its financial guidance for 2015 with expectations of revenue of between €101 and €106 million, and earnings before interest and tax of €9 to €16 million. This follows an eventful period during which it saw a multi-year partnership with Celgene Corp end.