The Eigen Therapeutics team. Front row (L-R): Senior scientist Anukriti Dhar, associate scientist Molly Volkman, CSO Kathryn Vanderlaag. Back row (L-R): Lead engineer Erik Werner, CEO Transon Nguyen, CTO Kamran Ali
December 8, 2022 04:00 AM EST
Financing
Startups

Prim­ing ther­a­py biotech emerges from stealth with seed fund­ing — and on a hunt for part­ners

Katherine Lewin

News Reporter

At Eigen Therapeutics, the goal is to make cancer treatment more effective. But not by making targeted drugs.

With $7 million in seed funding announced today, Eigen is a step closer to developing what are known as “priming therapies” that make cancer cells more visible to tumor-killing medicines, as well as building out a platform to design these therapies and discover potential new drug classes.

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Raymond Stevens, Structure Therapeutics CEO
February 3, 2023 07:23 AM ESTUpdated 11:39 AM
Financing

Be­hind Fri­day's $161M IPO: A star sci­en­tist, GPCR drug dis­cov­ery and a plan to chal­lenge phar­ma in di­a­betes

Amber Tong

Senior Editor

What does it take to pull off a $161 million biotech IPO these days?

In Structure Therapeutics’ case, it means having a star scientist co-founder paired with the computational drug discovery company Schrödinger, $198 million in private funding from blue-chip investors, almost six years of research work on G protein-coupled receptors and a slate of oral, small-molecule drugs, with an eye on the huge and growing diabetes and weight-loss market.

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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) (Francis Chung/E&E News/Politico via AP Images)
February 3, 2023 02:59 PM EST
Pharma
Law

In­fla­tion re­bates in­com­ing: Wyden calls on CMS to move quick­ly as No­var­tis CEO pledges re­ver­sal

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) this week sent a letter to the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services seeking an update on how and when new inflation-linked rebates will take effect for drugs that see major price spikes.

The newly signed Inflation Reduction Act requires manufacturers to pay a rebate to Medicare when they increase drug prices faster than the rate of inflation.

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Teresa Graham, incoming Roche Pharmaceuticals CEO
February 2, 2023 07:43 AM ESTUpdated 03:59 PM
People
Pharma

In­com­ing Roche CEO builds out his top team, tap­ping Genen­tech vet to lead phar­ma di­vi­sion

Katherine Lewin

News Reporter

Roche announced another leadership shuffle Thursday morning – the head of global product strategy, Teresa Graham, will take over as CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals in March while the company’s corporate executive committee will make a spot for Levi Garraway, CMO and executive VP of global product development.

Thomas Schinecker will take over the top spot as Roche group CEO in March, leaving his spot as head of diagnostics.

February 2, 2023 07:03 AM ESTUpdated 10:24 AM

#JPM23: Is 2023 go­ing to be a bet­ter year for biotech deal­mak­ing?

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Last year offered a disappointing stretch for biotech, with fewer deals than expected and lots more headwinds. Endpoints News Editor-in-Chief John Carroll sat down with some of the industry’s top dealmakers to explore what happened, and what’s ahead in 2023. This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.

John Carroll:

I’d say this is one of the most important conversations that’s going on right now. Particularly, of course, at JP Morgan, because so many people have come here, specifically to get involved in a deal, to see what they can do about a deal, to see what the deal potential is, where things are headed, what the trends are. Everything that we’re going to be covering here in the next hour.

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February 3, 2023 11:18 AM EST
FDA+

Trodelvy notch­es a win in most com­mon form of breast can­cer

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

Following a promise last year to go “big and fast in breast cancer,” Gilead has secured a win for Trodelvy in the most common form.

The drug was approved to treat HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer patients who’ve already received endocrine-based therapy and at least two other systemic therapies for metastatic cancer, Gilead announced on Friday.

Trodelvy won its first indication in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer back in 2020, and has since added urothelial cancer to the list. HR-positive HER2-negative breast cancer accounts for roughly 70% of new breast cancer cases worldwide per year, according to senior VP of oncology clinical development Bill Grossman, and many patients develop resistance to endocrine-based therapies or worsen on chemotherapy.

February 3, 2023 06:50 AM ESTUpdated 08:45 AM
Peer Review

Af­ter 13 years, Ramy Mah­moud steps in­to CEO seat at Opti­nose; Ru­pert Vessey set to ex­it Bris­tol My­ers in Ju­ly

Alex Hoffman

Assistant Editor

Kathy Wong

Assistant Editor

Lei Lei Wu

News Reporter

After 13 years as president and COO at Optinose, Ramy Mahmoud has stepped into a new role as its CEO. He is taking the place of Peter Miller, who stepped down earlier this week, though Miller is still staying with the company as a consultant.

In 2010, the two business partners joined Optinose to take it in a new direction, transforming it from a delivery platform to product company. They previously worked together at Johnson & Johnson, when Miller was president at Janssen and Mahmoud headed medical affairs. Miller said after he learned about Optinose, “I did what I always do, which is find people smarter than me to talk with about the idea. And the first person I called was Ramy … and I said, ‘Hey, Ramy, what do you think of this technology?’”

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Laurent Audoly, former Parthenon CEO
February 2, 2023 10:59 AM EST
People
Startups

Parthenon Ther­a­peu­tics CEO ex­its weeks af­ter co-founder leaves

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

Parthenon Therapeutics’ CEO and co-founder Laurent Audoly is no longer steering the ship of the cancer biotech, Endpoints News has learned.

Audoly’s departure comes just weeks after co-founder and chief business and operating officer Olga Granaturova left to take on the same posts at Normunity, another privately-held immunotherapy startup. CSO Tamas Oravecz also traded in his CSO hat for the same role at Simcere last August.

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February 3, 2023 03:44 PM EST
Pharma

Te­va drops out of in­dus­try trade group PhRMA

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

Following in AbbVie’s footsteps, Teva confirmed on Friday that it’s dropping out of the industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

Teva didn’t give a reason for its decision to leave, saying only in a statement to Endpoints News that it annually reviews “effectiveness and value of engagements, consultants and memberships to ensure our investments are properly seated.”

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Sanofi CFO Jean-Baptiste de Chatillon (L) and CEO Paul Hudson (Romuald Meigneux/Sipa via AP Images)
February 3, 2023 03:11 PM EST
Pharma

Sanofi sees downtick in flu sales as it preps for launch of RSV an­ti­body

Tyler Patchen

News Reporter

Sanofi expects its RSV antibody jointly developed with AstraZeneca will be available next season, executive VP of vaccines Thomas Triomphe announced on the company’s quarterly call.

Beyfortus, also known as nirsevimab, was approved in the EU back in November and is currently under FDA review with an expected decision coming in the third quarter of this year. The news comes as the FDA plans to hold advisory committee meetings over the next couple months to review RSV vaccines from Pfizer and GSK.

Prim­ing ther­a­py biotech emerges from stealth with seed fund­ing — and on a hunt for part­ners

Be­hind Fri­day's $161M IPO: A star sci­en­tist, GPCR drug dis­cov­ery and a plan to chal­lenge phar­ma in di­a­betes

In­fla­tion re­bates in­com­ing: Wyden calls on CMS to move quick­ly as No­var­tis CEO pledges re­ver­sal

In­com­ing Roche CEO builds out his top team, tap­ping Genen­tech vet to lead phar­ma di­vi­sion

#JPM23: Is 2023 go­ing to be a bet­ter year for biotech deal­mak­ing?

Trodelvy notch­es a win in most com­mon form of breast can­cer

Af­ter 13 years, Ramy Mah­moud steps in­to CEO seat at Opti­nose; Ru­pert Vessey set to ex­it Bris­tol My­ers in Ju­ly

Parthenon Ther­a­peu­tics CEO ex­its weeks af­ter co-founder leaves

Te­va drops out of in­dus­try trade group PhRMA

Sanofi sees downtick in flu sales as it preps for launch of RSV an­ti­body