No­var­tis re­sumes re­mote busi­ness in Ukraine af­ter safe­ty pro­to­col re­view

Months af­ter a slate of phar­ma com­pa­nies slammed the brakes on some op­er­a­tions in both Rus­sia and Ukraine, No­var­tis an­nounced that it’s re­sum­ing busi­ness re­mote­ly in Ukraine “to help the war-torn coun­try re­store some ba­sic crit­i­cal busi­ness process­es.”

No­var­tis came to the de­ci­sion af­ter study­ing safe­ty pro­to­cols and re­ceiv­ing ad­vice “which we will reg­u­lar­ly re­view,” the com­pa­ny said on Wednes­day.

“The safe­ty and se­cu­ri­ty of our peo­ple re­mains our num­ber one ob­jec­tive, and we will con­stant­ly re­view the sit­u­a­tion and our busi­ness op­er­a­tions in Ukraine,” the com­pa­ny said in a state­ment.

The phar­ma gi­ant once again con­demned the war, which has trig­gered Eu­rope’s largest refugee cri­sis since World War II and tak­en more than 4,000 civil­ian lives, ac­cord­ing to the UN.

No­var­tis joined sev­er­al Big Phar­ma com­pa­nies in tak­ing ac­tion against Rus­sia back in March, sus­pend­ing cap­i­tal in­vest­ments, me­dia ad­ver­tis­ing and oth­er pro­mo­tion­al ac­tiv­i­ties in the coun­try. And while it promised to con­tin­ue sup­ply­ing med­i­cine to Rus­sia, it paused the ini­ti­a­tion of new clin­i­cal tri­als and the en­roll­ment of new par­tic­i­pants in ex­ist­ing tri­als.

At the time, J&J, GSK, Mer­ck, Bris­tol My­ers Squibb and Roche had al­ready put new site ac­ti­va­tion and new pa­tient en­roll­ment on hold in Rus­sia. A hand­ful of com­pa­nies — in­clud­ing Mer­ck, As­traZeneca, GSK, Bris­tol My­ers Squibb, Pfiz­er and oth­ers — al­so sus­pend­ed en­roll­ment in some Ukraine tri­als.

Back in March, clin­i­cal­tri­als.gov list­ed more than 600 on­go­ing tri­als in var­i­ous re­cruit­ing stages with at least one study site in Ukraine. In April, the EMA is­sued new guid­ance de­signed to help spon­sors of on­go­ing stud­ies nav­i­gate dis­rup­tions that are ex­pect­ed to con­tin­ue.

Over the last few months, No­var­tis has de­liv­ered more than 1.3 mil­lion packs of an­tibi­otics, painkillers, and car­dio­vas­cu­lar and on­col­o­gy treat­ments — worth more than $33 mil­lion — to Ukraine and its refugees in bor­der coun­tries. The com­pa­ny has al­so do­nat­ed $3 mil­lion to char­i­ties sup­port­ing refugees and is giv­ing an­oth­er $1 mil­lion to pa­tient or­ga­ni­za­tions, which help pa­tients get treat­ment abroad, trans­late med­ical re­ports, and dis­sem­i­nate knowl­edge of hos­pi­tals ready to ad­mit pa­tients.

“Our team in Ukraine is ea­ger to come back to their work, and to play their part in main­tain­ing our pri­or­i­ty to en­sure that those in need of life-chang­ing med­i­cines gain the best pos­si­ble sup­port from No­var­tis and San­doz,” No­var­tis said.

Has the mo­ment fi­nal­ly ar­rived for val­ue-based health­care?

RBC Capital Markets’ Healthcare Technology Analyst, Sean Dodge, spotlights a new breed of tech-enabled providers who are rapidly transforming the way clinicians deliver healthcare, and explores the key question: can this accelerating revolution overturn the US healthcare system?

Key points

Tech-enabled healthcare providers are poised to help the US transition to value, not volume, as the basis for reward.
The move to value-based care has policy momentum, but is risky and complex for clinicians.
Outsourced tech specialists are emerging to provide the required expertise, while healthcare and tech are also converging through M&A.
Value-based care remains in its early stages, but the transition is accelerating and represents a huge addressable market.

Lat­est on ul­tra-rare dis­ease ap­proval; Pos­i­tive, if mixed, signs for Bio­gen's ALS drug; Clay Sie­gall finds a new job; and more

Welcome back to Endpoints Weekly, your review of the week’s top biopharma headlines. Want this in your inbox every Saturday morning? Current Endpoints readers can visit their reader profile to add Endpoints Weekly. New to Endpoints? Sign up here.

Over the last four years, we’ve honored 80 women whose extraordinary accomplishments have changed the game in biopharma R&D. You can now nominate someone to be highlighted in this year’s special report. Details are here.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

FDA spells out how can­cer drug de­vel­op­ers can use one tri­al for both ac­cel­er­at­ed and full ap­provals

The FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence has been a bright spot within the agency in terms of speeding new treatments to patients. That flexibility was on full display this morning as FDA released new draft guidance spelling out exactly how oncology drug developers can fulfill both the accelerated and full approval’s requirements with just a single randomized controlled trial.

While Congress recently passed legislation that will allow FDA to require confirmatory trials to be recruiting and ongoing prior to granting an accelerated approval, the agency is now making clear that the initial trial used to win the AA, if designed appropriately, can also serve as the trial for converting the accelerated approval into a full approval.

FDA ad­vi­sors unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend ac­cel­er­at­ed ap­proval for Bio­gen's ALS drug

A panel of outside advisors to the FDA unanimously recommended that the agency grant accelerated approval to Biogen’s ALS drug tofersen despite the drug failing the primary goal of its Phase III study, an endorsement that could pave a path forward for the treatment.

By a 9-0 vote, members of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee said there was sufficient evidence that tofersen’s effect on a certain protein associated with ALS is reasonably likely to predict a benefit for patients. But panelists stopped short of advocating for a full approval, voting 3-5 against (with one abstention) and largely citing the failed pivotal study.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

No­vo Nordisk oral semaglu­tide tri­al shows re­duc­tion in blood sug­ar, plus weight loss

Novo Nordisk is testing higher levels of its oral version of its GLP-1, semaglutide, and its type 2 diabetes trial results released today show reductions in blood sugar as well as weight loss.

In the Phase IIIb trial, Novo compared its oral semaglutide in 25 mg and 50 mg doses with the 14 mg version that’s currently the maximum approved dose. The trial looked at how the doses compared when added to a stable dose of one to three oral antidiabetic medicines in people with type 2 diabetes who were in need of an intensified treatment.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

Ly­me vac­cine test com­ple­tion is pushed back by a year as Pfiz­er, Val­ne­va say they'll ad­just tri­al

Valneva and Pfizer have adjusted the end date for the Phase III study of their investigational Lyme disease vaccine, pushing it back by a year after issues at a contract researcher led to thousands of US patients being dropped from the test.

In a March 20 update to clinicaltrials.gov, Valneva and Pfizer moved the primary completion date on the trial, called VALOR, from the end of 2024 to the end of 2025.

Endpoints Premium

Premium subscription required

Unlock this article along with other benefits by subscribing to one of our paid plans.

Clay Siegall, Morphimmune CEO

Up­dat­ed: Ex-Seagen chief Clay Sie­gall emerges as CEO of pri­vate biotech

Clay Siegall will be back in the CEO seat, taking the helm of a private startup working on targeted cancer therapies.

It’s been almost a year since Siegall resigned from Seagen, the biotech he co-founded and led for more than 20 years, in the wake of domestic violence allegations by his then-wife. His eventual successor, David Epstein, sold the company to Pfizer in a $43 billion deal unveiled last week.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

Eu­ro­pean doc­tors di­al up dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion with phar­mas, but still lean to­ward in-per­son med meet­ings, study finds

As in-person sales rep access declines in the big five European countries, a corresponding uptick in virtual rep access is happening. It’s not surprising, but it does run counter to pharma companies’ assessment – along with long-held sales rep sway in Europe – that in-person access hadn’t changed.

CMI Media Group and Medscape’s recent study reports that 75% of physicians in the EU5 countries of Spain, Germany, Italy, France and the UK already limit engagements with pharma sales reps, and 25% of those surveyed plan to decrease time with reps.

Endpoints News

Keep reading Endpoints with a free subscription

Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

Judge al­lows ex­pert tes­ti­mo­ny in GSK tri­al al­leg­ing Zan­tac link to can­cer

A California judge will allow a plaintiff in a state court case to introduce expert testimony connecting a potential carcinogen in former blockbuster medicine Zantac to cancer.

The order was handed down on Thursday from state judge Evelio Grillo, who is now allowing both parties to introduce expert testimony in an upcoming trial after what’s known as a Sargon hearing, where a judge determines the admissibility of expert witnesses and expert opinions.