After Sarepta Therapeutics’ former head scientist blamed his swift ouster on “serious disagreements” with CEO Chris Garabedian, the company has moved to limit its chief executive’s power, according to a report, especially when it comes to meetings with the FDA over the biotech’s much-scrutinized lead drug. …read more Source: Sarepta’s boardroom intrigue clouds a promising […]
Bracing for an expensive round of late-stage studies and potential drug launches as it ramps up work on a slate of new biosimilars, Amgen reported Tuesday evening that it plans to trim up to 15% of the company’s workforce, shutting down facilities in Colorado and Washington state as it slashes up to 2,900 staffers. …read […]
Quark Pharmaceuticals’ gene-silencing treatment for kidney transplant complications missed its primary endpoint in a Phase II trial, possibly jeopardizing a deal with Novartis worth up to $680 million. …read more Source: Quark’s RNAi treatment misses the mark in a Phase II kidney trial
Looking to share some of the spotlight focused on the immuno-oncology arena, Merck Serono says it has launched a mid-stage study of MSB0010718C, an anti-PD-L1 antibody. …read more Source: Merck Serono steps into IO spotlight with PhII cancer study
With investors focused almost exclusively on earnings and R&D programs today, Merck quietly managed to slip in news of a setback in its quarterly report, noting that the FDA has rejected its marketing application for the fertility treatment corifollitropin alfa. …read more Source: Resurgent Merck to accelerate R&D spending in H2, hunt new drug deals […]
On Monday, Targacept reported that its midstage effort aimed at salvaging its lead drug flopped. Once partnered with AstraZeneca, which saw four late-stage studies for the one-time depression drug TC-5214 hopeful sour, Targacept says it’s finally ready to dump the therapy after it failed in a Phase IIb study for overactive bladder. …read more Source: […]
KaloBios was an early entrant in 2013’s boom of biotech IPOs, touting its development technology as a springboard for high-quality antibodies. A year later, that promise hasn’t come to fruition, and partner Sanofi is walking away from an antibacterial program for which the company had high hopes. …read more Source: Sanofi dumps KaloBios’ antibiotic in […]
AstraZeneca has high hopes for the in-development AZD9291, a treatment for lung cancer expected to bring in $3 billion a year at its peak, and the drugmaker is working with rival Roche to craft a blood test that can spot ideal patients for the therapy. …read more Source: AstraZeneca reaches out to Roche with a […]
Redwood City, CA-based PaxVax has nailed down up to $50 million in debt financing and $12 million in a Series B venture funding extension to complete the acquisition of Crucell’s oral typhoid vaccine Vivotif and the ongoing Phase III study of its cholera vaccine candidate, PXVX0200. …read more Source: PaxVax nails down $62M to complete […]
Early this year Zealand Pharma and Boehringer Ingelheim agreed to start over on their three-year-old collaboration to develop a GLP-1 diabetes drug after they decided to part ways on a lead program. Now the Danish biotech will ramp up a second preclinical peptide program with the German pharma company aimed at cardio-metabolic diseases. …read more […]
