Latest Pharma and Biotech News
Biotechnology
17 June 2025 US pharma major Eli Lilly (today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Verve Therapeutics, a Boston-based clinical-stage company developing genetic medicines for cardiovascular disease, sending Verve’s shares up 77.7% to $11.15 in premarket trading.
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The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a warning to women taking popular medicines for weight loss and diabetes, sometimes referred to as “skinny jabs,” to use effective contraception while taking these medicines and, in some cases, for up to two months between stopping the medicine and trying to get pregnant. 5 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Japanese drugmaker Shionogi and US pharma major Eli Lilly were among the big spenders in pharma M&A during May. 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Neuropsychiatric disorders specialist Alto Neuroscience, has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Chase Therapeutics Corporation to buy a portfolio of potentially best-in-class dopamine agonist drug combinations. 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Danish dermatology specialist LEO Pharma has appointed Helle Hedegaard Juhl as executive vice president for global people and corporate affairs (GPCA). 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published the UK’s first official guidance to support the safe development and use of phage therapies - treatments that use viruses to target and destroy harmful bacteria. 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
The European Commission (EC) has approved a label extension for Evrysdi (risdiplam) to include a new, room-temperature stable tablet for people living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Swiss pharma giant Roche revealed today 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
The American medicines regulator has committed to reviewing the safety of the abortion pill mifepristone, amid renewed political scrutiny and pressure from conservative lawmakers. 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
US biotech BioAge Labs is expanding its obesity pipeline just months after shelving its lead drug in the category due to liver toxicity. 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Sogroya (somapacitan injection) has been recommended by UK health technology assessor the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a treatment for people aged 3 to 17 years with pediatric growth hormone deficiency, the UK subsidiary of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk revealed yesterday. 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Sweden’s Karolinska Development today revealed that its portfolio company OssDsign has carried out a directed share issue through an accelerated book-building procedure that brought the company approximately 158 million kronor ($16.5 million). 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
US pharma major Eli Lilly has struck a deal worth up to $870 million with Swedish biotech Camurus, securing global rights to apply the latter’s extended-release delivery platform to a set of its own metabolic disease compounds. 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
The American medicines regulator has approved Bayer’s Nubeqa (darolutamide) for broader use in patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (mCSPC), marking a step forward for the drugmakeFood and Drug Administraton,r’s prostate cancer franchise. 4 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
The UK risks losing £11 billion ($14 billion) in pharmaceutical R&D investment by 2033 unless urgent reforms are made to high and unpredictable clawback payments imposed on medicine sales to the National Health Service, according to a new report commissioned by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). 3 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Shares in MaaT Pharma, a French microbiome company in oncology, closed 25% higher Tuesday. 3 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Japanese biotech Nxera Pharma has received a $15 million payment from Neurocrine Biosciences after the first patient was dosed in a Phase III study of NBI-1117568, a potential new treatment for schizophrenia. 3 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Detailed results from the Phase III OASIS-4 study have found that Bayer’s elinzanetant showed a statistically significant reduction in the frequency of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS, also known as hot flushes) from baseline to week four and 12 compared to placebo, in women taking endocrine therapy to prevent hormone receptor (HR+) breast cancer. 2 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Positive results from the SERENA-6 Phase III trial have shown that AstraZeneca’s camizestrant alongside a cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitor (palbociclib, ribociclib or abemaciclib) led to a highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival (PFS). 2 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
US biotech Regeneron Pharmaceutical today announced a strategic in-licensing agreement with China’s Hansoh Pharmaceuticals for exclusive clinical development and commercial rights outside of the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau for a dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist currently in Phase III testing. 2 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Arcus Biosciences is setting the stage for a high-stakes Phase III showdown in kidney cancer, after early results showed that nearly half of patients treated with its experimental therapy had a confirmed response. 2 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
US drugmaker Protagonist Therapeutics and Japan’s Takeda Pharma announced detailed results from the Phase III, randomized, placebo-controlled VERIFY study evaluating rusfertide in patients with polycythemia vera (PV), which met the primary and all key secondary endpoints. 2 June 2025
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Pharmaceutical
A controversial proposal to change the Inflation Reduction Act’s pricing framework for rare disease drugs has been dropped from the Senate’s reconciliation package, marking a win for patient advocacy groups that lobbied against it. The ORPHAN Cures Act, which sought to shield some rare disease drugs from Medicare price talks, was notably absent from the text released this week by the Senate Finance Committee. 18 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Japanese companies NEC Corporation and Chugai Pharmaceutical have entered a collaboration to conduct an experiment using AI to predict drug combinations that can possibly enhance the effectiveness of certain cancer treatments. 18 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Japanese companies Axcelead and A2 Healthcare Corporation announced that they will enter a strategic partnership to promote pharmaceutical research and development in Japan.
Axcelead operates a global business built on two core pillars: drug discovery services and mRNA CDMO services. 18 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Pharma majors AbbVie and Roche were both trading lower early Tuesday after top-line results were announced from the global Phase III VERONA trial. 17 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Some 55 attorneys general (AGs), representing all eligible states and US territories, have agreed to sign on to a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family. 17 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
US trade association PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) has cited a new IQVIA study that found that Medicare Part D plans routinely deny access to prescribed medicines for patients with newly-diagnosed chronic conditions. 17 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Supernus Pharmaceuticals is to buy Sage Therapeutics for total consideration of around $795 million. 16 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
French drug developer Averoa today announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for Xoanacyl (ferric citrate coordination complex). 16 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) held a meeting last week to conduct the 2024 annual review of the quality management system (QMS) in vaccine regulation and pharmaceutical manufacturing inspection. 16 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
With exports valued at 105.5 billion Swiss francs ($130.2 billion) and a 38.5% share of total exports, the pharmaceutical industry is Switzerland's most important export sector. 16 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified KalVista Pharmaceutical that it will not meet the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date for the New Drug Application (NDA) for sebetralstat, the company’s investigational oral on-demand treatment for hereditary angioedema (HAE). 14 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
The International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm) has announced the settlement of its £300 million ($407 million), three-year 4.25% fixed-rate bond that was announced on June 3. 14 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca has entered a strategic research collaboration with Shijiazhuang City-based CSPC Pharmaceuticals Group. 13 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Germany’s Merck KGaA has presented detailed results from cohort B of the global Phase II WILLOW study of enpatoran, an investigational, oral, novel TLR7/8 inhibitor in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). 13 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services (Symbiosis), a global contract manufacturing organization (CMO) specializing in sterile manufacture of injectable drug products, has appointed Angelika Rublack as senior business development manager to support its expanding global client base and drive growth across several territories. 13 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
UK pharma major GSK today revealed that it has licensed its Shigella vaccine candidate, altSonflex1-2-3, to India’s Bharat Biotech International (BBIL). 13 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Novo Nordisk late Thursday announced that it will advance subcutaneous (SC) and oral amycretin into Phase III development in weight management based on completed clinical studies and feedback received from regulatory authorities. 13 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
The Russian pharmaceutical market is showing positive dynamics these days, despite the ever-tightening sanctions regime and the growing isolation of Russia in the international arena, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 13 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
Novartis has unveiled further data for Fabhalta (iptacopan), reinforcing its position in the paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) market and adding momentum to the oral drug’s expanding presence across rare blood and kidney disorders. 13 June 2025
Pharmaceutical
The American medicines regulator has approved Zusduri (mitomycin), a hydrogel-based treatment developed by US biotech UroGen Pharma, for adults with recurrent low-grade, intermediate-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (LG-IR-NMIBC). 13 June 2025
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