Healthcare - Today Stories

Today, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued its Final Appraisal Determination (FAD) recommending the use of four out of six disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Rebif® (interferon β-1a), Avonex®  (interferon β-1a), Extavia® (Interferon β-1b) and Copaxone® (glatiramer acetate) have been recommended, within their marketing authorisations, as options for treating relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in the NHS provided the companies provide the drugs with the discounts agreed in the patient access schemes.1 NICE does not recommend Betaferon® (interferon beta-1b), concluding that it would not be a good use of NHS resources. NICE has also stated it is not in a position to recommend pegylated interferon β-1a (Pleg…

Sanofi (Euronext: SAN; NYSE: SNY) and Ablynx (Euronext Brussels and Nasdaq: ABLX) today announced the results of the initial tender offer period of Sanofi's previously announced tender offers to acquire all of the outstanding shares (including shares represented by American Depositary Shares ("ADSs")), warrants and convertible bonds (together, the "Securities") of Ablynx.    The tender offer is made pursuant to the Heads of Agreement, dated January 28, 2018 between Sanofi and Ablynx, and is comprised of two separate but concurrent tender offers: (i) a tender offer under the laws of Belgium for all of the outstanding shares, warrants and convertible bonds of Ablynx (the "Belgian Offer") and (ii) a tender offer under the laws of the U.S. for all of the outstanding shares held by…

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) and ARMO BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARMO) today announced a definitive agreement for Lilly to acquire ARMO for $50 per share, or approximately $1.6 billion, in an all-cash transaction. ARMO BioSciences is a late-stage immuno-oncology company that is developing a pipeline of novel, proprietary product candidates designed to activate the immune system of cancer patients to recognize and eradicate tumors. The acquisition will bolster Lilly's immuno-oncology program through the addition of ARMO's lead product candidate, pegilodecakin, a PEGylated IL-10 which has demonstrated clinical benefit as a single agent, and in combination with both chemotherapy and checkpoint inhibitor therapy, across several tumor types. Pegilodecakin is currently being studied in a P…

Today Change Healthcare announced its plans for a collaboration with Adobe and Microsoft that will bring providers a more effective way to give patients the exceptional experience they want. By uniting engagement orchestration proven to work in consumer marketing with industry leading healthcare IT across the continuum of care, providers can compete on the strength of their patient relationships, beyond their existing quality and cost effectiveness capabilities. This new, visionary approach to consumer engagement is needed because existing methods aren't working. An ORC International study concluded healthcare stakeholders are investing heavily in engagement strategies and technologies, but only one-fifth of consumers said their experiences improved, and another fifth said their…

Akili Interactive (“Akili” or “Company"), a leading prescription digital medicine company developing novel treatments for cognitive dysfunction, today announced that it has successfully closed a $55 million Series C financing led by Temasek. Other participating institutional and strategic investors included Baillie Gifford, Amgen Ventures, M Ventures (the CVC fund of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), JAZZ Venture Partners, Canepa Advanced Healthcare Fund, and Brooklands Capital Strategies. The financing follows the positive top-line results in December 2017 from Akili’s multicentre randomised controlled pivotal study of AKL-T01, the Company’s flagship investigational product designed to treat paediatric attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Akili is planning to file AKL-T01 for…

Olympus, a global technology leader in designing and delivering innovative solutions for medical and surgical procedures, among other core businesses, announced today its co-development agreement with ai4gi, a commercial joint venture between Satis Operations and Imagia. Their Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution for real-time clinical decision support during screening and surveillance colonoscopy procedures will be exclusively offered by Olympus America Inc. (OAI). This co-development agreement is intended to raise the bar for all physicians to ultimately improve clinical outcomes, reduce overall costs and enhance quality of life for patients. The integration of AI into the colonoscopy procedure holds great promise for the future of GI screening for physicians and patients. Ai4gi initia…

Dolomite Bio, a leading provider of high throughput single cell technology, and Partek Incorporated, a recognized leader in the development of powerful genomic data analysis tools – today announced a collaboration to combine Partek’s single cell data analysis capabilities with Dolomite Bio’s microfluidic droplet-based single cell technology. Single cell data analysis enables researchers to gain useful insights into the diversity and state of single cells in a particular sample, which is fundamental for research into many diseases and immunity. However, analyzing single cell data can be challenging without prior advanced bioinformatics skills or in-house capabilities. To solve this challenge, Dolomite Bio and Partek Incorporated are collaborating on the development of an analysis pipeline…

Janssen Biotech, Inc., one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement under which it will acquire BeneVir Biopharm, Inc. (BeneVir), a privately-held, biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of oncolytic immunotherapies.  BeneVir utilizes a proprietary T-Stealth™ Oncolytic Virus Platform to engineer oncolytic viruses, tailored to infect and destroy cancer cells.  Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC facilitated the transaction.     "Oncolytic viral immunotherapy holds exciting potential in the treatment of solid tumors through the priming and augmenting of an anti-tumor immune response," said Peter Lebowitz, M.D., Ph.D., Global Therapeutic Area Head, Oncolo…

Novanta Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVT), a trusted technology partner to medical and advanced technology equipment manufacturers, announced today that it has acquired privately-held Zettlex Holdings Limited ("Zettlex"). Zettlex, based in Cambridge, England, provides original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs") with inductive encoders that can provide absolute and accurate positioning even in extreme operating environments.  Zettlex has approximately 40 employees and won the Queen's Award for Innovation in 2017 and for International Trade in 2018.  Zettlex has grown rapidly as the result of strong demand for their compact, accurate, lightweight and robust position sensors.  Zettlex was founded by Darran Kreit and Mark Howard, who have agreed to remain with the business, and Zettlex will op…

DNA Diagnostics Center® (DDC® or the Company), one of the world's largest private DNA testing companies, announces the acquisition of ContraVac, Inc., a global leader in male reproductive health. ContraVac, Inc., based in Charlottesville, VA, markets SpermCheck® Fertility, SpermCheck® Vasectomy and FertileCheck® Fertility Gel.  The SpermCheck® brand of products, developed by ContraVac, is the first FDA-approved immunoassay home-diagnostic test to measure sperm count. Introduced in 2011, SpermCheck® Fertility tests if a man has a fertile or sub-fertile sperm count, and is currently sold nationwide in Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Amazon, and internationally in major retailers. SpermCheck® Vasectomy is the only test designed specifically for men to test the success of their vasectomy…

Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) today announced the close of its acquisition of NxThera. The company developed the Rezum® system, a minimally invasive therapy (MIT) for patients with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). With the completion of the acquisition, NxThera will become part of the Boston Scientific Urology and Pelvic Health business. "We are confident in the potential for this system to help patients with BPH and increase the number of men choosing MITs, because it offers long-term relief from symptoms without the side effects of medications," said Dave Pierce, executive vice president and president, MedSurg, Boston Scientific. "The minimally invasive therapy segment is the fastest growing category in the treatment of BPH and, as an office-based procedure, t…

NeoPhore Limited, a cancer immuno-oncology company and PhoreMost Limited, today announced the companies will receive £1.0 million of funding following award of a Biomedical Catalyst grant in a recent Innovate UK competition.   The companies are partners on a grant titled, “A novel small molecule approach to enhance cancer immunotherapy”. Their research plan proposes to develop small-molecule drugs that will stimulate cancer immunity by leveraging well-validated genetic mechanisms. The strategy is central to NeoPhore’s approach to spark “dynamic neoantigen evolution” by targeting DNA mismatch repair to induce neoantigen creation in poorly immunogenic tumors. NeoPhore and PhoreMost are both headquartered in Cambridge UK, and NeoPhore was formed as a PhoreMost spin-out following invest…

Autolus Limited, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies, today announced the execution of a license agreement under which Autolus has acquired global rights from UCL Business plc (UCLB), the technology-transfer company of University College London (UCL), to develop and commercialize a novel CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy with novel targeting properties for the treatment of B cell malignancies.   The product candidate, which we have designated as AUTO1, is an investigational therapy in which a patient's T cells are genetically modified to express a novel CD19-specific CAR designed to reduce side effects related to cytokine release syndrome (CRS). CD19 is a protein expressed by B-cell lymphomas and leukaem…

Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which serves a patient population of 650,000 in the south west region of the U.K., is the first integrated mental and community health trust in the NHS to join TriNetX, with the goal of expanding the participation of its patients in clinical trials.   “Our involvement with TriNetX is about providing patients with the opportunity to take part in research,” said Andrew Harewood, Head of Research and Clinical Effectiveness at Somerset Partnership. Part of the NIHR Clinical Research Network: South West Peninsula, Somerset Partnership is actively involved in a number of studies covering a range of specialties including mental health, community health, learning disabilities, diabetes, and stroke, among others. “TriNetX gives us the ability to act…

ADC Biotechnology (ADC Bio), announces that it has secured £1.14 million in funding from investment managers, Downing LLP. The funds will bolster the company’s business drive for faster penetration of the main US market. The investment will also assist the development of an advanced bioconjugation method – an entirely new ADC manufacturing approach set to transform the industry, and a conceptual design for implementation of a fill-finish operation within the existing facility at Deeside. The funding vehicle – Downing FOUR VCT Healthcare – was established through a partnership between BioScience Managers, the leading healthcare investment specialists, and Downing LLP to provide a new healthcare share class to Venture Capital Trust (VCT) investors.   ADC Bio announced last month that…

Berkeley Lights, Inc. (BLI), a company dedicated to bringing to market transformational platforms for biopharmaceutical processes, announced today Sanofi  purchased the Beacon platform to accelerate their cell line development (CLD) process. Based on data from the pilot study, the Beacon platform quickly and efficiently identified target secreting clones, which may save resources and expedite the discovery and development process. The four integrated workflows of Berkeley Lights' Beacon platform – import, culture, assay, and export – can be applied for cell line development, antibody discovery and engineering, gene editing, and research. Automating workflows using the Beacon platform increases efficiencies and reduces overall time while providing insights into the behavior of clonal…

Berkeley Lights, Inc. (BLI), a company dedicated to bringing to market transformational platforms for biopharmaceutical processes, announced today Sanofi  purchased the Beacon platform to accelerate their cell line development (CLD) process. Based on data from the pilot study, the Beacon platform quickly and efficiently identified target secreting clones, which may save resources and expedite the discovery and development process. The four integrated workflows of Berkeley Lights' Beacon platform – import, culture, assay, and export – can be applied for cell line development, antibody discovery and engineering, gene editing, and research. Automating workflows using the Beacon platform increases efficiencies and reduces overall time while providing insights into the behavior of clonal…

ICON plc, (NASDAQ: ICLR) a global provider of drug development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced that it has agreed on preliminary deal terms with Intel Corporation to enable ICON to offer  the Intel® Pharma Analytics Platform for use in  clinical trials. The Intel platform is an edge-to-cloud artificial intelligence (AI) solution that enables remote monitoring and continuous capture of clinical data from study subjects using sensors and wearable devices, and can apply machine learning techniques to objectively measure symptoms and quantify the impact of therapies. Jointly configured by ICON experts and building on Intel’s AI and analytics leadership, trials that leverage the Intel® Pharma Analyti…

Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a Japanese R&D-driven specialty pharma focused on oncology and Helsinn, a Swiss pharmaceutical group focused on building quality cancer care products, today announce that they are collaborating on the development of an investigational highly-selective RET inhibitor TAS0286/HM05, being evaluated in non-small cell lung cancer and other carcinomas.  Preliminary data regarding TAS0286/HM05 is being presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Abstracts of the presentations are available at: http://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/4562/presentation/6785   In in-vitro preclinical studies, TAS0286/HM05 inhibited the proliferation of various RET fusions and RET-activating mutations positive cells…

The biotechnology company LEUKOCARE has established another important partnership by licensing its Stabilizing and Protecting Solutions (SPS(R)) technologies. According to the Munich-based company, LEUKOCARE has entered into a license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim. On the basis of this agreement, the animal health business unit of the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim will have access to LEUKOCARE's SPS(R) formulation technologies to utilize biological reagents in a new veterinary diagnostics product and to stabilize them. In this context, portable analytical devices support the veterinarian's decision making directly on site and in a minimum of time without shipment of samples. License and payment terms have not been disclosed by the partners. Rolf-Dieter Günther, Head of…