Natural killer cells attacking a cancer cell (AP Images)
April 9, 2020 11:16 AM EDTUpdated April 10, 10:34 AM
R&D
Coronavirus
In Focus

Nat­ur­al killers are com­ing for Covid-19 and the ther­a­py, ex­perts say, could make things worse

Jason Mast

Editor

When Jimin Gao learned of the lockdown in Wuhan, he went to his lab at Wenzhou Medical University in Southeast China and ordered several bags of blood. The blood, from the umbilical cord of volunteering women, contained a part of the immune system known as natural killer cells.

Gao extracted the NK cells and over the next few weeks designed receptors to attach to them, receptors he theorized would help them find and destroy human cells infected with the novel coronavirus. He then rigged the cells with a protein called IL-15 that would keep them alive inside a patient.

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SPONSORED
March 20, 2023 06:00 AM EDT

Has the mo­ment fi­nal­ly ar­rived for val­ue-based health­care?

Sean Dodge

Healthcare Technology Analyst, RBC Capital Markets

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.

Alaa Halawa, executive director at Mubadala’s US venture group
March 22, 2023 08:00 AM EDTUpdated 02:30 PM
Bioregnum
Discovery

The ven­ture crew at Mubadala are up­ping their biotech cre­ation game, tak­ing care­ful aim at a new fron­tier in drug de­vel­op­ment

It started with a cup of coffee and a slow burning desire to go early and long in the biotech creation business.

Wrapping up a 15-year discovery stint at Genentech back in the summer of 2021, Rami Hannoush was treated to a caffeine-fueled review of the latest work UCSF’s Jim Wells had been doing on protein degradation — one of the hottest fields in drug development.

“Jim and I have known each other for the past 15 years through Genentech collaborations. We met over coffee, and he was telling me about this concept of the company that he was thinking of,” says Hannoush. “And I got immediately intrigued by it because I knew that this could open up a big space in terms of adding a new modality in drug discovery that is desperately needed in pharma.”

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March 23, 2023 03:31 AM EDT
R&D
Pharma

Sanofi, Re­gen­eron boast PhI­II win with Dupix­ent in COPD, clear­ing first bar for ex­pan­sion

Amber Tong

Senior Editor

Dupixent, the blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug from Sanofi and Regeneron, has cleared a high-stakes Phase III study in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the companies announced Thursday morning.

If they hold up in a second, identical trial, the data pave the way for Dupixent to become the first biologic to treat patients whose COPD remains uncontrolled despite being on maximal standard-of-care inhaled therapy — the patient population studied in the pivotal program. The companies had spotlighted this as a key readout as they look to expand the Dupixent franchise and explore its full potential.

March 22, 2023 06:09 PM EDT
Pharma
FDA+

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

Max Gelman

Senior Editor

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.

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March 23, 2023 03:00 AM EDT
People
Manufacturing

Genen­tech to stop com­mer­cial man­u­fac­tur­ing at Cal­i­for­nia head­quar­ters

Tyler Patchen

News Reporter

Genentech is halting commercial manufacturing at its California headquarters — and laying off several hundred employees.

The move is the result of a decision Genentech made in 2007 to relocate manufacturing operations from its South San Francisco headquarters location to other facilities or move the work to CDMOs, said Andi Goddard, Genentech’s SVP of quality and compliance for pharmaceutical technical operations, in an interview with Endpoints News. Genentech has made changes in capabilities and invested more in technology, so it doesn’t need as many large-scale manufacturing facilities as it did in the past, she said.

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March 21, 2023 12:30 PM EDT
AI
Pharma
Marketing

Chat­G­PT with phar­ma da­ta de­buts for med­ical meet­ings, be­gin­ning with AACR

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

What do you get when you combine ChatGPT generative AI technology with specific pharma and clinical datasets? A time-saving tool that can answer questions about medical conference abstracts and clinical findings in seconds in one new application from ZoomRx called FermaGPT.

ZoomRx is debuting a public version of its generative AI product specifically for medical conferences beginning this week for the upcoming American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting that runs April 14-19.

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Vas Narasimhan, Novartis CEO (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)
March 22, 2023 03:00 PM EDT
R&D

No­var­tis pulls the plug on UK-based car­dio­vas­cu­lar study

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

Novartis is calling off a UK-based trial for Leqvio in the primary prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with high cholesterol, the company confirmed on Wednesday.

The Swiss pharma giant made the decision after “careful evaluation,” a spokesperson told Endpoints News via email. The trial, dubbed ORION-17, was planned in partnership with England’s National Health Service (NHS) and was part of the company’s strategy to establish Leqvio as a standard of care in cardiovascular disease management.

Senate health committee chair Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
March 22, 2023 01:00 PM EDT
Coronavirus

Mod­er­na CEO de­fends Covid-19 vac­cine price change at Sen­ate com­mit­tee grilling

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel faced a barrage of questions from the Senate health committee on Wednesday but emerged mostly unscathed as he defended the quadrupling of the price of the company’s blockbuster Covid-19 vaccine in the US, from about $26 per dose to $130 per dose.

What’s behind that rise in price, many senators on both sides of the aisle questioned, and Bancel offered a variety of reasons. First and foremost, the company is expecting a 90% reduction in demand for its vaccine next fall, when the FDA is likely to roll out another booster campaign to fight Covid-19.

March 22, 2023 11:22 AM EDTUpdated 11:37 AM
R&D
Pharma
FDA+

FDA re­jects Ab­b­Vie's in­fu­sion ther­a­py for Parkin­son's, re­quests more in­fo on pump de­vice

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

The FDA rejected AbbVie’s 24-hour infusion therapy for Parkinson’s, saying it needs more information on a device used to administer the treatment before it can clear it.

The Chicago-area drugmaker said in a press release that the complete response letter from the agency didn’t include any requests for more efficacy or safety trials related to the drug, known as ABBV-951. The company said it aims to “resubmit the NDA as soon as possible.”

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Nat­ur­al killers are com­ing for Covid-19 and the ther­a­py, ex­perts say, could make things worse

Has the mo­ment fi­nal­ly ar­rived for val­ue-based health­care?

The ven­ture crew at Mubadala are up­ping their biotech cre­ation game, tak­ing care­ful aim at a new fron­tier in drug de­vel­op­ment

Sanofi, Re­gen­eron boast PhI­II win with Dupix­ent in COPD, clear­ing first bar for ex­pan­sion

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

Genen­tech to stop com­mer­cial man­u­fac­tur­ing at Cal­i­for­nia head­quar­ters

Chat­G­PT with phar­ma da­ta de­buts for med­ical meet­ings, be­gin­ning with AACR

No­var­tis pulls the plug on UK-based car­dio­vas­cu­lar study

Mod­er­na CEO de­fends Covid-19 vac­cine price change at Sen­ate com­mit­tee grilling

FDA re­jects Ab­b­Vie's in­fu­sion ther­a­py for Parkin­son's, re­quests more in­fo on pump de­vice