The week in pharma: action, reaction and insight – week to July 25

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell

Last week, a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee (AdCom) voted against approval of Danish drugmaker Lundbeck and Japan-based Otsuka’s Rexulti for post-traumatic stress disorder. France’s Sanofi announced it is expanding its respiratory vaccines pipeline with an up to $1.6 billion acquisition of UK biotech Vicebio. French biotech Abivax released new Phase III data on its investigational ulcerative colitis candidate obefazimod that saw its shares nearly quadruple. Also of note was the latest setback for Sarepta’s Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug Elevidys, when the European Medicines human health committee, the CHMP, declined partner Roche’s accelerated approval of the drug.