The European Union’s public-private partnership for drug development research, the Innovative Medicines Initiative, is to formally collaborate with the US Critical Path Institute, in a move to share more information from pre-competitive research.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new genetic test that will help physicians to determine if women with human epidermal growth factor Receptor 2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer can benefit from Herceptin (trastuzumab).
The current shortage of new antibiotic medicines is to be the subject of talks between the European pharmaceutical industry federation (Efpia) and the European Commission as concern mounts about a rise in antimicrobial resistance.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved ezogabine, a potassium channel opener, as an adjunctive treatment for partial-onset seizures in patients 18 years and older. The developers are Valeant Pharmaceuticals and GSK.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new imaging device that enables the simultaneous administration of a positron emission tomography scan (PET) and a magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI). The device has been developed by Siemens.
The European Medicines Agency’s management board has taken steps to strengthen its conflict-of- interest rules for staff following a controversy involving its former executive director who became a consultant after leaving the agency.
CureVac GmbH, which has a messenger RNA vaccine in development for prostate cancer has reported that the vaccine induced an immune response to at least one antigen in 79% of patients in a Phase 1/2a study.
H. Lundbeck A/S has announced the resignation of its executive vice president for commercial operations, Stig Løkke Pedersen, who will pursue new opportunities. The board of directors has begun the recruitment of a successor.
A molecular diagnostic developed by MDxHealth of Belgium will be used to screen patients for a second oncology trial in what is seen as a further expansion of the rapidly evolving field of personalised medicine. The assay tests methylation status.
Guido Rasi, head of the Italian Medicines Agency, has been nominated to become the new executive director of the European Medicines Agency, following the departure of Thomas Lönngren who completed two terms on 31 December 2010.