August 30, 2019 10:14 AM EDTUpdated 11:00 AM
Endpoints Staff
Protocols

Paratek pub­lish­es pos­i­tive PhI­II da­ta on ap­proved Nuzyra; Al­ler­gan set­tles opi­oid law­suits in two Ohio coun­ties

→ Paratek Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals‘ $PRTK Nuzyra (omada­cy­cline) has met all pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary clin­i­cal study end­points in their OA­SIS-2 Phase III clin­i­cal tri­al, ac­cord­ing to re­sults pub­lished in The Lancet In­fec­tious Dis­eases. In the study, in­volv­ing 735 adults with AB­SS­SI, Nuzyra was shown to be as ef­fec­tive as Pfiz­er‘s $PFE twice-dai­ly oral-on­ly Zyvox (line­zol­id). Nuzyra is cur­rent­ly avail­able in the US as a once-dai­ly oral and in­tra­venous an­tibi­ot­ic for the treat­ment of adults with com­mu­ni­ty-ac­quired bac­te­r­i­al pneu­mo­nia and AB­SS­SI. The drug is al­so be­ing stud­ied for the treat­ment of uri­nary tract in­fec­tions.

→ Wrap­ping a week of big opi­oid law­suit news, Al­ler­gan $AGN dis­closed that it’s set­tled with two Ohio coun­ties, avoid­ing a mul­ti-de­fen­dant tri­al sched­uled for Oc­to­ber. The drug­mak­er — which con­tends that it has not ac­tive­ly mar­ket­ed or pro­mot­ed any opi­oid prod­ucts since 2013 and that it does not have li­a­bil­i­ty for gener­ic claims — said it’s seek­ing in­dem­ni­fi­ca­tion from oth­er par­ties in the fed­er­al lit­i­ga­tion. Per the set­tle­ment, Al­ler­gan is pay­ing $1.9 mil­lion to Sum­mit Coun­ty and $3.1 mil­lion to Cuya­hoga Coun­ty.

→ On the heels of a fast track des­ig­na­tion, Akari Ther­a­peu­tics has added or­phan sta­tus to its lead drug no­ma­co­pan’s cre­den­tials. The C5 in­hibitor is be­ing po­si­tioned as a treat­ment for hematopoi­et­ic stem cell trans­plant-as­so­ci­at­ed throm­bot­ic mi­croan­giopa­thy in pe­di­atric pa­tients. The biotech plans to com­mence a piv­otal tri­al in the fourth quar­ter this year, said COO Clive Richard­son, who was in­stalled as in­ter­im CEO more than a year ago af­ter David Horn was oust­ed amid a scan­dal.

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March 29, 2020 10:59 AM EDT
John Carroll
Coronavirus
R&D

Gilead CEO Dan O'­Day of­fers a de­tailed ex­pla­na­tion on remde­sivir ac­cess — re­as­sur­ing an­a­lysts that Covid-19 da­ta are com­ing fast

After coming under heavy fire from consumer groups ready to pummel them for grabbing the FDA’s orphan status for remdesivir — reserved to encourage the development of rare disease therapies — Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day had some explaining to do about the company’s approach to providing access to this drug to patients suffering from Covid-19. And he set aside time over the weekend to patiently explain how they are making their potential pandemic drug available in a new program — one he feels can better be used to address a growing pack of infected patients desperately seeking remdesivir under compassionate use provisions.

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March 23, 2020 07:00 AM EDT
Astellas Pharma, Inc.

Ven­ture Cap­i­tal as a Strate­gic Part­ner: Fu­el­ing In­no­va­tion be­yond Fi­nance

The average level of investment required for a biotech start-up to succeed is increasing every year, elevating the pressure even further on venture capital to make smart financial investments. Financial investment alone, however, does not always guarantee that exciting innovations can be transformed into real businesses that make a meaningful difference to patients.

Beyond just capital

At Astellas Venture Management (AVM) – a wholly-owned venture capital organization within Astellas, headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area – capital is just one of the ingredients we offer to add value to our biotechnology investments and partnerships. We generally take a strategic investor approach for companies in our invested portfolio, providing access to expertise, technology and/or resources in addition to the injection of finance. An equity investment from AVM can include access to Astellas’ research and development (R&D) capabilities and expertise, and a global network of partner academic institutions and biotechnology companies, to help advance and accelerate the start-up’s innovation.

March 26, 2020 07:20 AM EDTUpdated 09:26 AM
Endpoints Staff
Coronavirus

Covid-19 roundup: In­ter­cept, blue­bird and a grow­ing list of biotechs feel the pain as pan­dem­ic man­gles FDA, R&D sched­ules

Around 100 staffers at Boston area hospitals have now tested positive for Covid-19, spotlighting the growing risk that the pandemic will sideline many of the most essential workers in healthcare as caseloads peak in the US and around the globe. With more than 3,400 deaths, Spain has become the latest country to surpass the official death count attributed to the new coronavirus in China, where the outbreak originated. As of Thursday morning, confirmed global cases had crossed 470,000 and the death count eclipsed 21,000.

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March 25, 2020 03:17 PM EDTUpdated 04:57 PM
John Carroll
Coronavirus
Pharma
Regulatory

Af­ter crit­ics lam­bast­ed Gilead for grab­bing the FDA's spe­cial rare drug sta­tus on remde­sivir, they're giv­ing it back

Two days after Gilead won orphan drug status for remdesivir as a potential treatment for Covid-19, they’re handing it back.

The company was slammed from several sides after Gilead reported that the FDA had come through with the special status, which comes with 7 years of market exclusivity, the waiver of FDA fees and some tax credits as well. Typically, everyone who can get orphan status lands it without much of a fuss, but Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Public Citizen and other consumer groups were outraged.

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March 25, 2020 07:37 AM EDTUpdated March 26, 06:59 AM
John Carroll
Coronavirus

Mod­er­na CEO Stéphane Ban­cel out­lines a short path for emer­gency use of a coro­n­avirus vac­cine

NIAID director Anthony Fauci has left no doubts that it takes 12 to 18 months to get a new vaccine tested and in commercial use, in the best of circumstances. But in times of a global emergency — like these — maybe there’s another, faster route to follow.

In an SEC filing on Tuesday, Moderna $MRNA staked out a record-setting pathway to getting their mRNA vaccine into the frontline of the healthcare response as early as this fall. The SEC filing notes that CEO Stéphane Bancel told Goldman Sachs that an emergency use approval could allow the vaccine to go to healthcare workers and certain individuals in a matter of months — presumably provided the NIH sees the safety and efficacy data they would need from the Phase I.

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March 23, 2020 08:28 AM EDTUpdated 09:00 AM
John Carroll
Coronavirus
R&D

Caught in a Covid-19 mael­strom, Eli Lil­ly locks down clin­i­cal tri­als as multi­bil­lion-dol­lar R&D ops de­rail

The Covid-19 pandemic has derailed Eli Lilly’s $6 billion R&D operations.

The pharma giant reported Monday morning that it has decided to hit the brakes on most new study starts and pause enrollment for most ongoing studies. Lilly adds that it is continuing dosing for ongoing studies, “but with study-by-study consideration.”

The pandemic has severely disrupted healthcare systems around the globe, says Lilly, making it difficult or impossible to conduct studies at many research sites. And there’s no timeline for when it expects to get back on track.

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March 26, 2020 12:42 PM EDTUpdated March 27, 10:18 AM
John Carroll
Coronavirus
R&D

UP­DAT­ED: Ver­tex joins Mer­ck, Pfiz­er — re­vamp­ing multi­bil­lion-dol­lar tri­al strat­e­gy as biotech R&D crum­bles

You can add Pfizer, Merck and — as we found out Friday morning — Vertex to the growing list of pharma giants hitting the pause button on a range of clinical trials. But not everyone in R&D is getting a red light.

Vertex says that it’s doing its best to keep working its pipeline strategy, coming up with a plan “to enable virtual clinic visits and home delivery of study drug to ensure study continuity and medical monitoring, and to facilitate study procedures.”

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March 25, 2020 10:48 AM EDT
Amber Tong
Coronavirus

Covid-19 roundup: Bris­tol My­ers sus­pends clin­i­cal tri­als, grounds field team; Vir ush­ers an­ti­body can­di­dates to hu­man test­ing

The global nature of the Covid-19 pandemic is manifesting more profoundly every day. With Spain’s death toll now surpassing China’s and India on full lockdown, the number of confirmed cases around the world has exceeded 436,000 while recoveries edged close to 112,000.

While the outbreak derails R&D at another pharma giant, several drugmakers have some encouraging updates on both experimental and repurposed molecules. Philanthropic campaigns in anticipation of the economic fallout continue. An Australian biotech is taking extreme measures to hunker down. There’s also an alternative epidemiology model emerging out of the UK, stirring up more discussion regarding the true extent of the infections in the country.

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March 27, 2020 10:50 AM EDT
Natalie Grover
Coronavirus
R&D

As share buy­backs come un­der scruti­ny, what's in store for the bio­phar­ma in­dus­try?

Stock buybacks are not to be permitted for companies that will be bailed out in the coronavirus stimulus package, Congressional leaders have signaled. To what degree the biopharma industry has relied on buybacks for earnings growth in recent years, and if the trend continues, are the big questions as scrutiny into the practice heightens and balance sheets weaken with the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on global economies.

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Paratek pub­lish­es pos­i­tive PhI­II da­ta on ap­proved Nuzyra; Al­ler­gan set­tles opi­oid law­suits in two Ohio coun­ties

Gilead CEO Dan O'­Day of­fers a de­tailed ex­pla­na­tion on remde­sivir ac­cess — re­as­sur­ing an­a­lysts that Covid-19 da­ta ...

Ven­ture Cap­i­tal as a Strate­gic Part­ner: Fu­el­ing In­no­va­tion be­yond Fi­nance

Covid-19 roundup: In­ter­cept, blue­bird and a grow­ing list of biotechs feel the pain as pan­dem­ic man­gles FDA, R&D ...

Af­ter crit­ics lam­bast­ed Gilead for grab­bing the FDA's spe­cial rare drug sta­tus on remde­sivir, they're giv­ing it back

Mod­er­na CEO Stéphane Ban­cel out­lines a short path for emer­gency use of a coro­n­avirus vac­cine

Caught in a Covid-19 mael­strom, Eli Lil­ly locks down clin­i­cal tri­als as multi­bil­lion-dol­lar R&D ops de­rail

UP­DAT­ED: Ver­tex joins Mer­ck, Pfiz­er — re­vamp­ing multi­bil­lion-dol­lar tri­al strat­e­gy as biotech R&D crum­bles

Covid-19 roundup: Bris­tol My­ers sus­pends clin­i­cal tri­als, grounds field team; Vir ush­ers an­ti­body can­di­dates to hu­man ...

As share buy­backs come un­der scruti­ny, what's in store for the bio­phar­ma in­dus­try?