News

AstraZeneca discontinues motavizumab for RSV prophylaxis

Country
United Kingdom

AstraZeneca Plc said it is discontinuing development of the monoclonal antibody, motavizumab, for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus disease. But it will continue work on the antibody as a treatment for RSV, a respiratory tract infection.

Sanofi-Aventis invests in covalent-drug technology

Country
France

Sanofi-Aventis has announced plans to commit up to $800 million to a new chemistry platform that promises to deliver a class of small molecule drugs against cancer that silence disease-causing proteins. Most conventional drugs bind to their protein targets rather than silence, or shut them down entirely.

Lilly acquires Avid Radiopharmaceuticals

Country
United States

Eli Lilly and Co has completed the acquisition of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc, a privately-held company in which its venture capital unit has had an equity stake since 2005. Avid has an imaging agent for detecting amyloid plaque that is poised for review by the FDA.

NovImmune raises CHF 20 million for antibody work

Country
Switzerland

Privately-owned NovImmune SA of Geneva, Switzerland has raised an additional CHF 20 million (€15.7 million) from a syndicate led by BZ Bank Aktiengesellschaft to advance its monoclonal antibody development programmes.

FDA and EMA differ on Avastin’s effectiveness for breast cancer

Country

The US Food and Drug Administration has recommended that the breast cancer indication be removed from Avastin (bevacizumab), which is used in combination with paclitaxel, because the treatment does not prolong overall survival. However, the European Medicines Agency said it will allow the indication to remain because there is still clinical benefit based on progression free survival.

Update of biopharma deals and alliances

Country

The following is an update of recent alliance and deal activity among biopharmaceutical companies and research institutions.

H. Lundbeck A/S of Denmark has signed agreements with Zenobia Therapeutics Inc of La Jolla, California and Vernalis Plc of the UK to research inhibitors for a family of kinases relevant to diseases of the central nervous system. Specifically, the Danish company is investigating the Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) as a target for a potential treatment for Parkinson’s disease. Lundbeck will collaborate with Zenobia to explore the structure and chemistry of the target using Zenobia’s protein expression and x-ray crystallography technology. In a separate agreement with Vernalis, the two companies will identify candidate compounds that can inhibit LRRK2. Financial terms were not disclosed. LRRK2 is an enzyme that is encoded by the LRRK2 gene. Mutations in this gene represent a risk for Parkinson’s disease. LRRK2 inhibition is potentially neuroprotective as it appears the gene is expressed at high levels in dopamine-producing neurons, Lundbeck said.

Evotec in beta cell regeneration alliance with MedImmune

Country
Germany

Evotec AG has entered into a licensing agreement with the AstraZeneca Plc subsidiary, MedImmune, to generate biological factors that play a role in beta cell regeneration. The deal includes a €5 million upfront payment to Evotec.

Update on clinical trials

Country

ImmunoGen Inc of Waltham, Massachusetts has reported initial data from two early clinical trials of its antibody-drug conjugate for first-line treatment of breast cancer patients which showed meaningful response rates when the product, trastuzumab-DM1, was used as a single agent, or in combination with a monoclonal antibody. Data from a Phase 1b/2 trial, which was reported on 10 December, showed that 57.1% of patients with HER2 metastatic breast cancer responded to treatment with the drug, plus the antibody (pertuzumab). The study consisted of 21 patients who had not received prior systemic anticancer therapy for metastatic disease. In a separate Phase 2 study, 47.8% of 137 patients receiving trastuzumab-DM1 as a single agent responded to treatment. This compared with a response rate of 41.4% of patients treated with Herceptin and a taxane. The ImmunoGen antibody-drug conjugate consists of trastuzumab plus a cytotoxic agent and a linker.