Evotec has increased the scope of its discovery activities with an agreement to help Shire Plc identify potential drugs to treat Fabry’s disease, an inherited metabolic disorder. The agreement is one of several to be initialed in the first half of the year that collectively expand the company’s reach into metabolic disorders, cancer, pain and infectious disease.
Novo Nordisk A/S said that a cardiovascular outcomes study for one of its newest products, Tresiba, is proceeding ahead of schedule, raising the prospect that data could be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration in the first half of 2015 with a new assessment thereafter. Tresiba was turned down by the FDA in 2013.
Scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have for the first time located single-letter changes in the DNA code of Streptococcus pneumoniae which enable the bacterium to evade treatment with antibiotics. The discovery was made using a genome-wide association study.
H. Lundbeck A/S has confirmed that revenue will decline this year because of generic competition for two legacy products and a tougher pricing environment for its products, which treat neurological disorders.
The German biotechnology company 4SC AG has expanded its research and development capacity in epigenetics with two deals focused on discovering epigenetic compounds in cancer and cardiovascular disease. The company gave the update in its half-year financial report.
A first human study of a monoclonal antibody targeting the toll-like receptor 4 for the potential treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has been shown to be safe and well tolerated, according to the developer Novimmune SA of Switzerland.
GW Pharmaceuticals Plc is advancing development of its cannabidiol, Epidiolex, for the treatment of childhood epilepsy using cash raised during a recent follow-on offering of its American Depositary Shares on the US Nasdaq market.
Roche has agreed to acquire Santaris Pharma A/S of Denmark, an RNA-targeted medicine specialist with whom it already has a strategic alliance. The Switzerland-based company will pay $250 upfront in cash for the company, with contingent payments of up to $200 million.
A Phase 3 trial of a new combination treatment for relapsed multiple myeloma reached its primary endpoint of progression-free survival, demonstrating that carfilzomib with two other agents helped patients live 8.7 months longer without their disease worsening, Amgen announced.
The Switzerland-based life science company Evolva Holding SA has reached an agreement to acquire Prosarix Ltd, a privately-owned biotechnology company in Cambridge UK that works in the area of computer-based drug discovery.