News

Novartis reported a narrow 1% increase in group sales to $12.4 billion in the first quarter, held back by its Sandoz generics division which encountered price competition and weak retail demand. Consumers made forward purchases of generic medicines at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, but then demand fell off sharply in the first quarter of this year.

A new antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) has received US approval to treat patients with a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma after showing an overall response rate of 48.3% in a pivotal Phase 2 trial. Zynlonta (loncastuximab tesirine) was authorised by the Food and Drug Administration as a single-agent treatment for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) – the first single-agent ADC for this disease. Patients in the trial had already received two or more lines of systemic therapy, but these treatments had failed.

An antibody treatment for the rare autoimmune disorder, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, has received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency following two studies showing that the therapy reduced the chance of disease relapse. The treatment, Enspryng (satralizumab), was developed by the Roche Group. It targets the interleukin-6 receptor which is believed to play a role in the inflammation associated with the disease.

A small molecule drug that activates a component of the innate immune system could play a role in enhancing radiation therapy for the treatment of cancers, according to a study published in Nature Communications on 19 April 2021. The study, conducted by Yale University in the US and F-star Therapeutics Ltd, co-located in the UK and US, looked at the role of STING (stimulator of interferon genes) in regulating tumour cell survival.

A candidate vaccine for the prevention of malaria has shown an efficacy rate of 77% in a Phase 2b trial of African children between the ages of five to 17 months – exceeding an efficacy target set by the World Health Organization. The trial results were published online by The Lancet on 22 April 2021, prior to peer review.

A new drug for endometrial cancer has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration following a trial which showed an overall response rate of 42.3%. Jemperli (dostarlimab) was developed by GlaxoSmithKline Plc and is administered with a diagnostic developed by Roche. The diagnostic can recognise cancers which are deficient mismatch repair (dMMR), or cancers with a genetic feature that adversely affects the repair of DNA inside cells.

A new biotech company has been launched in the UK to develop medicines for cancer and inflammatory disease by targeting fibroblasts. Mestag Therapeutics Ltd was founded by a team of five fibroblast experts and has received seed financing of $11 million from SV Health Investors and Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

A German radiopharmaceutical company has raised €90 million to complete development and commercialise a radionuclide therapy for cancer as well as build its oncology pipeline. ITM Isotopen Technologien München AG is conducting a Phase 3 trial of Lu-Edotreotide in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours, which are rare tumours of the pancreas and parts of the gastrointestinal tract.

Anavo Therapeutics BV, a new venture capital-backed company, has been launched in the Netherlands with seed capital of €20 million to investigate the development of drugs targeting phosphatases. Phosphatases are enzymes which, together with kinases, regulate the activity of signalling pathways in the body. But until recently, they have been largely unexplored as a target for therapeutics.

Roche reported a 1% decline in group sales, expressed in Swiss francs, in the first quarter as competition from biosimilar products eroded demand for the cancer drugs Avastin and Herceptin, and the rheumatoid arthritis drug Rituxan. By contrast, sales of diagnostic products, including tests for both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 applications, were strong.