News

GSK acquires rights to vaccine candidates for treating Alzheimer’s disease

GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA has agreed to pay €22.5 million upfront for access to a new vaccine technology developed by AFFiRiS GmbH of Austria. The candidate vaccines are designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease by targeting beta-amyloid, a protein which is understood to be the main constituent of amyloid plaques in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients.

Roche has 65 new molecular entities in its pharma pipeline

The Roche Group said that its pharmaceutical research and development pipeline consisted of 65 new molecular entities and 54 additional indications at the end of the 2008 third quarter. Since the start of the year, 10 major projects have entered Phase 3. Roche gave the R&D update on 21 October with the release of its earnings for the first nine months of the year.

MediGene reports final results from Phase 2 EndoTAG-1 study

MediGene AG said that the final results of a Phase 2 study of its treatment for pancreatic cancer, EndoTAG-1, showed a median overall survival of up to 9.4 months for patients who were administered the treatment, together with  the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine. The median survival for patients receiving gemcitabine alone was 7.2 months.

Pharming gives business update for nine months of 2008

Pharming Group NV said that it is on course to make regulatory filings for its lead drug, Rhucin, with the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency. An FDA filing is expected to take place before the end of 2008 with a new submission to the EMEA shortly thereafter.

Editorial: the case for orphan antibiotics

Governments in the industrialised world have revolutionized drug development over the past 25 years with the introduction of orphan legislation encouraging companies to invest in new products to treat rare diseases. Legislation in the US,  Europe, Japan and elsewhere gives incentives to companies to start looking after the medical needs of patients with rare, but life-threatening diseases. The concept of ‘orphan’ derives from the fact that these patients had previously been ‘orphaned’ by the pharmaceutical industry.