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The Denton site is part of a network of manufacturing plants Novartis is building across the U.S. to make cancer drugs that must be shipped to patients quickly.
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IPO
LB Pharma needed $350 million to advance a promising schizophrenia candidate at a time when the biotech markets were locked up tight. Fortunately, it wasn’t CEO Heather Turner’s first rodeo.
Rare disease drug developers struggle to survive in a biopharma investment market that prioritizes large patient populations. Initiatives like the Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator are attempting to solve what CEO Craig Martin says is not a science problem, but a math problem.
Eli Lilly’s win in a head-to-head trial drove Novo Nordisk’s market cap to pre-Wegovy levels not long after the victor became the first pharma company to top a $1 trillion valuation. It seems one company can do no right, while the other can do no wrong.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
FDA
Following the FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s investigational mRNA flu vaccine last week, Commissioner Marty Makary faced questions from the U.S. president about the agency’s handling of vaccines. It’s a clear signal that the tension long brewing at the drug regulator has now gone all the way to the top.
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The British biopharma company reported 10% sales growth in the third quarter, driven mainly by robust sales of its respiratory syncytial virus shot Arexvy and shingles vaccine Shingrix.
The regulator has released Mersana Therapeutics’ antibody-drug conjugate XMT-2056 from its clinical hold, allowing the biotech to proceed with Phase I studies of the candidate with a lower starting dose.
The regulator’s advisory committee on Tuesday found Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics’ off-target analysis for its sickle cell disease candidate exa-cel to be sufficient.
Third-quarter revenues for antiviral treatment Paxlovid dropped 97% operationally compared with the prior-year period, while vaccine Comirnaty revenues declined 70% in the quarter.
FDA
Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax and more are working to combine preventative shots for COVID-19, flu, RSV and other illnesses. Will convenience be enough to overcome vaccine fatigue?
Here’s how expanding companies can benefit from executive-level strategic experience in key areas while staying lean and nimble.
In its third-quarter results Tuesday, Amgen announced a $650 million write-down after discontinuing AMG 340, a prostate cancer candidate acquired in the $900 million buy of Tenobio in 2021.
Following the recent Chinook Therapeutics acquisition, the Novartis experimental IgA nephropathy therapeutic atrasentan significantly reduced protein in the urine of patients compared to placebo.
Despite failing to hit the primary endpoint in the Phase III EMBARK study, the company plans to file for a label expansion for its Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys.
More and more companies are turning to artificial intelligence for drug safety prediction, but as with any new application of AI, experts urge caution.