BioSpace News Archive

Shares of Indiana-based Endocyte have shot up more than 50 percent in pre-market trading after Swiss pharma giant Novartis announced it was acquiring the company for $2.1 billion in cash. The deal will allow the company to expand its radiopharmaceuticals business.

Citing structural simplification, Pfizer announced it plans to cut its global staffing by about 2 percent. It expects to do so primarily through voluntary layoffs and early retirement through the end of this year and early in 2019.

The company, with sites in Seattle and South San Francisco, focuses on next-generation oncology therapeutics. It recently completed a portfolio review and decided to focus its energies and existing capital on G100 and abandoned its CMB305 program.

Buried deep in an announcement touting a 6 percent growth in net sales driven by strong revenue gains of Cosentyx, Swiss pharma giant Novartis reported it received a Complete Response Letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for canakinumab as a potential treatment for cardiovascular risk reduction.

Another scientific paper has been retracted by the New England Journal of Medicine. The noted journal said it retracted a paper on evidence of human lung stem cells following an investigation that revealed images used in the article had been manipulated.

Every year, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation awards a collective total of $22 million to nine researchers for achievements in the Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics.

Weeks after Waltham, Mass.-based Morphic Therapeutic secured $80 million in Series B financing that was supported in part by AbbVie Ventures, the company struck a deal with the pharma giant to collaborate on the development of therapies for fibrosis-related indications.

Multiple biotech companies are scheduled to release their quarterly reports next week. BioSpace takes a quick look at some these companies and the announcements they have made through 3Q2018.

As a valued member of our BioSpace community, we are eager to hear more from you and other readers. Name one influencer in the life sciences industry that produced a significant impact in 2018.

There are plenty of great scientific research stories out this week. Here’s a look at just a few of them.