News

Novartis had net sales of $14 billion for the first quarter, a rise of 3% in constant currency terms and driven by products that have been on the market since 2009. 

AstraZeneca Plc secured a 3% gain in first quarter revenue to $6.4 billion leading the chief executive Pascal Soriot to declare that the company is gaining momentum after 14 quarters of no growth.

Pharming Group NV has raised €14.7 million with a private placement of its shares and warrants with existing institutional shareholders to support the expected launch of Ruconest, a treatment for hereditary angioedema.

The French biotechnology company TxCell SA has secured €16.2 million in an initial public offering of its shares on the Euronext stock exchange in Paris, enabling it to advance the clinical development of its lead product Ovasave for refractory Crohn’s disease.

Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Eli Lilly and Company announced a fundamental reshaping of their businesses on 22 April while yet-to-be denied rumours circulated on global stock markets of an imminent bid by Pfizer Inc for AstraZeneca Plc.

Generic competition and difficult market conditions in Germany are expected to weigh on Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH’s business this year with the result that net sales will likely be unchanged from the €14.1 billion reported in 2013.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new first-line indication for Arzerra (ofatumumab), a CD20-directed monoclonal antibody. This is for use in combination with chlorambucil for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) in patients who can’t receive fludarabine.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a third tablet therapy to treat a respiratory allergy in less than a month – Ragwitek developed by ALK-Abelló A/S of Denmark and partnered with Merck & Co Inc.

A new paradigm for testing experimental medicines is being launched in the UK under the leadership of Cancer Research UK and with the participation of AstraZeneca Plc, Pfizer Inc and the National Health Service (NHS). The project involves testing up to 14 experimental medicines in patients with late-stage non-small cell lung cancer who have been ‘stratified’ according to the genetic characteristics of their disease.

Actelion Ltd of Switzerland continued to expand its franchise for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in the first quarter with the introduction of a new PAH product in North America and parts of Europe.