AstraZeneca Plc achieved a double-digit increase in revenue in the 2022 first quarter on the back of strong demand for its oncology medicines and $1.7 billion in sales of drugs for rare diseases generated by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, its recent acquisition. AstraZeneca acquired Alexion in July 2021 for $39 billion. However operating profit declined on amortisations related to the Alexion purchase and payments arising from a patent dispute.
AstraZeneca Plc is to open a new research site in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, as it consolidates its July 2021 acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc, a developer of drugs for rare diseases. AstraZeneca paid $39 billion for the US company which has marketed products as well as more than 20 projects in development.
The Roche Group’s multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) generated sales of CHF 1.4 billion ($1.44 billion) in the first quarter of 2022 making it the company’s top-selling drug – ahead of the cancer treatments Perjeta and Tecentriq. Group sales for the quarter were CHF 16.4 billion, up by 10% in Swiss francs from a year earlier and by 11% in constant exchange rates. Roche does not report operating or net income figures on a quarterly basis. But the company did say it expects to increase its dividend for the year.
MitoRx Therapeutics Ltd, a new UK company focused on degenerative diseases, has completed a seed financing round in order to develop therapeutics that reverse mitochondrial dysfunction. Investors in the new company include the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund, Wren Capital, Oxford Technology Management as well as angel investors. The size of the financing was not disclosed.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to provide €15 million to IRBM SpA of Italy to expand research into new vaccines and treatments for SARS-CoV-2 and future coronaviruses. The funding, which runs through to 2024 will increase vaccine production capacity and prepare for future outbreaks of infectious diseases. It comes at a time when vaccine companies elsewhere are also bolstering manufacturing capacity in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc is to acquire Checkmate Pharmaceuticals Inc, a US oncology company with a clinical asset under investigation for the treatment of a number of cancers. Regeneron, which is a producer of antibody therapeutics, has built a pharmaceutical presence in a wide range of disease areas including inflammatory conditions, cardiovascular disease, pain, and cancer.
Nektar Therapeutics Inc and Bristol Myers Squibb Co have stopped the global programme for a jointly developed cancer therapy following the failure of two clinical trials. The therapy combined bempegaldesleukin, an experimental interleukin-2 cytokine prodrug, with the checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab).
GlaxoSmithKline Plc is to acquire the specialty oncology company Sierra Oncology Inc which is poised to make a regulatory submission for its lead product momelotinib in the US in the second quarter. A submission to the European Medicines agency is anticipated in the second half of 2022. Momelotinib has been developed to treat patients with myelofibrosis with anaemia. The acquisition has been valued at $1.9 billion.
France-based bioMérieux SA is to acquire Specific Diagnostics Inc of the US in order to strengthen its position in the detection of infections from antibiotic resistant pathogens. Specific Diagnostics, a privately held company, has developed an antimicrobial susceptibility test that can detect Gram negative bacteria directly from blood cultures in an average of five hours.
A synthetic peptide being developed by Bicycle Therapeutics Plc of the UK has shown promising results in a Phase 1/2 study of patients with urothelial carcinoma. The drug, BT8009, is a synthetic short peptide which is being developed for advanced solid tumours associated with Nectin-4 expression. Results for eight out of 34 patients from the study were reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in April.