Orionis Biosciences has announced a second strategic collaboration with Genentech to discover and develop a new class of monovalent molecular glue medicines for cancer, in a deal worth $105 million upfront and more than $2 billion in potential milestone payments.
France-based Sanofi SA posted strong sales and business operating income for the 2025 first quarter due to continued demand for Dupixent and a strong performance by newer treatments and vaccines. Sales reached €9.9 billion, up by 10.8% in actual exchange rates and by 9.7% at constant rates. Business operating income for the quarter was €2.9 billion, a rise of 20.1% on the first quarter of 2024. The company left its full-year profit and sales forecasts unchanged, with the expectation that sales will continue to grow strongly.
The Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche reported 2025 first quarter sales of CHF 15.4 billion ($18.6 billion) for an increase of 7% in Swiss francs and 6% at constant exchange rates. Group sales were driven by higher demand for newer medicines and diagnostics. The strongest performers in its pharmaceutical division were Phesgo, a combination therapy for breast cancer, Vabysmo, a drug for severe eye diseases, and the allergy treatment Xolair. For the year as a whole, group sales are expected to increase in a mid-single digit range at constant exchange rates.
People suspected of having Alzheimer’s disease will in future be able to have another option for receiving a confirmed diagnosis following the approval of a new blood test by the US Food and Drug Administration. The approval, announced on 16 May, is for an in vitro diagnostic device, the first of its kind. It is called the Lumipulse G pTau217/beta-amyloid 1-42 plasma ratio. The developer is Fujirebio Diagnostics Ltd of Japan.
GSK Plc is to expand its portfolio of products for the treatment of liver disease with the acquisition of an asset to treat and prevent the progression of steatotic liver disease (SLD), formerly known as fatty liver disease. Announced on 14 May, the deal features an upfront payment of $1.2 billion for the asset with potential for additional success-based milestones of $800 million. The liver disease affects a significant percentage of the global population and is mainly driven by obesity, type 2 diabetes, and alcohol intake, according to a 2024 review in The Lancet.
CRISPR base editing has delivered a landmark n-of-1 gene therapy for an infant with carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency, in a clinical milestone that may redefine how rare genetic diseases are treated. CPS1 deficiency is a mitochondrial disorder caused by a loss-of-function mutation in the CPS1 gene that impairs the urea cycle and leads to life-threatening hyperammonaemia.
Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, chief executive of Novo Nordisk A/S, who has led the Danish company for eight years including a period of strong growth with the launch of two obesity drugs, is to step down. The management change was apparently taken under pressure from the Novo Nordisk Foundation which controls a majority of the company’s shares. It follows a steep decline in the company’s shares after Phase 3 data for a new obesity compound failed to meet investor expectations. It did however meet the trial’s primary endpoint.
A consortium led by Jeito Capital of France has raised €132 million in new funds for Azafaros BV of the Netherlands enabling it to advance an experimental compound for rare metabolic disorders into Phase 3. Co-leading the Series B round was Forbion, whose operating partner Carlo Incerti is chair of the company’s board of directors. Joining the board as a new member will be Audrey Cacaly, a principal at Forbion Growth, which is a fund supporting late-stage assets.
TILT Biotherapeutics Ltd has raised €22.6 million from the European Innovation Council and other investors to bring its oncolytic virus therapy for patients with ovarian cancer into Phase 2. The funding will also support earlier studies for the product, TILT-123, in other indications. TILT-123 is an oncolytic adenovirus encoding tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin 2. It is designed to work alongside T cell therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors to target and kill cancer cells.
Efpia, the federation that represents pharmaceutical companies in Europe, has deferred comment on President Donald Trump’s executive order on 12 May which is intended to lower the prices of prescription drugs in the US. The order would introduce the Most Favoured Nation policy to drugs. This is a principle of the World Trade Organization under which all nations treat their trading partners equally. In the context of the Trump order, it is being interpreted to mean that US drug prices would be tied to those set in other countries.