Today Stories

AbSci, a global leader in biotherapeutic discovery and manufacturing technologies, today announced a collaboration with Sanofi.  Under the terms of the agreement, AbSci will apply its breakthrough E.coli manufacturing platform, SoluProTM, and its novel optimization assay system, to two of Sanofi's biotherapeutic molecules. AbSci's proprietary technology platform is designed with the ability to rapidly achieve optimized, scalable, high-quality, high-titer production of any class of biotherapeutic molecule, including traditionally difficult to manufacture molecules and next-generation scaffolds. The collaboration will take place at AbSci and be funded by Sanofi. "It is exciting to partner with a renowned company like Sanofi," said Sean McClain, CEO of AbSci. "This collaboration illustr…

CytoReason, a leader in machine learning for drug discovery and development, announced today that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) that will leverage CytoReason’s cell-centered models of the immune system.   CytoReason will receive from Pfizer payments potentially equaling up to low double digit millions of US$ for technology access fees, research support and certain success-based payments.   CytoReason’s proprietary platform helps rebuild lost cellular information from gene expression data and associates genes to specific cells. This information is then integrated with additional omics and literature data to create a cell-based model of the trial-specific immune response. Integration with the CytoReason disease model empowers the stud…

Velabs Therapeutics, specializing in the fast generation of functional therapeutic antibodies, today announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with BioMed X Innovation Center, Heidelberg. The collaboration will capitalize on Velabs’ microfluidics-based technology in the field of T-cell screening. The BioMed X Innovation Center is a new collaboration model at the interface between academia and industry. BioMed X is using the Velabs platform to support the research team of John Lindner to explore new concepts for rapid identification of auto-antigens in autoimmune diseases. The research team, sponsored by Janssen Research & Development, LLC, will use high-throughput microfluidic screening approaches to couple T-cell receptor specificity with auto-antigens. Velabs The…

·         Norgine to receive a significant upfront payment and undisclosed sums in sales milestones along with double-digit percentage royalties ·         Norgine retains full commercial rights to PLENVU® in all unlicensed countries   NORGINE B.V. (Norgine), a leading European specialist pharmaceutical company and KOREA PHARMA CO., LTD. (Korea Pharma), a premier pharmaceutical manufacturer in Korea, today announced an exclusive licence and distribution agreement in the Republic of Korea by which Korea Pharma will commercialise Norgine’s product PLENVU®. PLENVU® is a lower-volume (1L) polyethylene glycol (PEG) based bowel preparation for colonoscopy in adults. It is the first lower-volume bowel preparat…

NEW YORK & SUMMIT, N.J.,--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) and Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Bristol-Myers Squibb will acquire Celgene in a cash and stock transaction with an equity value of approximately $74 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Celgene shareholders will receive 1.0 Bristol-Myers Squibb share and $50.00 in cash for each share of Celgene. Celgene shareholders will also receive one tradeable Contingent Value Right (CVR) for each share of Celgene, which will entitle the holder to receive a payment for the achievement of future regulatory milestones. The Boards of Directors of both companies have approved the combination. The transaction will create a le…

Researchers have launched a clinical trial to develop a breath test, analysing molecules that could indicate the presence of cancer at an early stage. This is the first test of its kind to investigate multiple cancer types. A cancer breath test has huge potential to provide a non-invasive look into what’s happening in the body and could help to find cancer early, when treatment is more likely to be effective.  The Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre is running the PAN Cancer trial for Early Detection of Cancer in Breath* in collaboration with Owlstone Medical** to test their Breath Biopsy® technology. Breath samples from people will be collected in the clinical trial to see if odorous molecules called volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be detected. Profe…

Precision Medicine Group, Inc. (Precision) today announced it has acquired Stern Investor Relations, Inc. (Stern IR), a leading investor relations firm for entrepreneurial biotechnology and healthcare companies. With this acquisition, Precision significantly expands its capabilities to include a complete range of strategic communication services aimed at facilitating capital formation and enhancing client visibility and productive interactions with the financial community. Stern IR supports more than 70 companies in the entrepreneurial biotechnology and healthcare sectors, and its core competencies include creation of investor relations strategy aimed at lowering the cost of capital, positioning and messaging development, relationship building with the financial community, and seamless tac…

Kineta Immuno-Oncology, LLC (KIO), a subsidiary of Kineta, Inc., today announced that it has entered into a strategic research collaboration with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) to develop RIG-I agonist immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer.  The research collaboration and license agreement grants to Pfizer the exclusive rights to KIO's RIG-I screening platform and related compounds and technologies.  The companies will collaborate to develop and test small molecule agonists that target RIG-I, an innate immunostimulatory pathway that can elicit immunogenic cell death (ICD) in tumors, providing both direct tumor cell killing and enhanced anti-tumor immune responses.  In preclinical models, Kineta's RIG-I agonists have demonstrated complete tumor regression and an increase…

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced an agreement with Hydra Biosciences to acquire all assets related to  Hydra's pre-clinical program of TRPA1 antagonists, part of the Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) family of ion channels, that is currently being studied for the potential treatment of chronic pain syndromes. "At Lilly, we are committed to developing new treatment options for people struggling with chronic pain," said Mark Mintun, M.D., vice president of pain and neurodegeneration research at Lilly. "Through the acquisition of this promising pre-clinical program from Hydra, we will advance our understanding of the TRP pathway in pain signaling, and will seek to initiate clinical studies in the near term." "We are very excited to be transitioning this program into L…

Orchard Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ORTX), a leading commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients with serious and life-threatening rare diseases through innovative gene therapies, and SIRION Biotech GmbH today announced the entry into a license agreement, pursuant to which Orchard has licensed SIRION’s LentiBOOST™ technology to enhance manufacturing efficiency for certain of Orchard’s ex vivo autologous hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy drug candidates. “At Orchard Therapeutics, we are establishing manufacturing capabilities to deliver potentially transformative gene therapy products to rare disease patients around the globe. Optimization of lentiviral transduction through a technology such as LentiBOOST™, along with the build-out of our recentl…

BiomX Ltd., a microbiome company developing customized phage therapies, today announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Janssen Research & Development, LLC to utilize BiomX's XMarker microbiome-based biomarker discovery platform. The XMarker platform will be used to stratify responders and non-responders to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) therapeutics. The collaboration was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation Limited. "The XMarker platform was created for BiomX's microbial target discovery, based on the advanced algorithms developed by our scientific founders and our internal computational team," stated Jonathan Solomon, CEO of BiomX. "Beyond target discovery, we believe that our microbiome analytics holds great promise for the development of a new clas…

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) today announced a novel multi-year collaboration with Magellan Rx Management, the pharmacy benefit management division of Magellan Health, that will leverage each company's capabilities and resources to identify clinical gaps for some of the healthcare system's most difficult-to-treat diseases. Based on Amgen and Magellan's extensive expertise in complex areas of health and specialty populations, the initial projects will focus on improving patient outcomes for the treatment of osteoporosis and migraine. These projects mark Amgen's first value-based collaboration with a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM). "Amgen's collaboration with Magellan Rx demonstrates our commitment to cultivating deeper, more meaningful relationships with PBMs, moving beyond the typical transaction…

Orion Corporation and Novartis Pharma AG have agreed that Novartis will return the sales and distribution rights in certain European countries for Parkinson's disease drug Stalevo® to Orion.   The sales and distribution rights in certain European countries for the proprietary product Stalevo® (active pharmaceutical ingredients: levodopa, carbidopa, entacapone), which has been patented and developed by Orion for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, transfer from Novartis to Orion as of 3 December 2018.   Central nervous system (CNS) disorders are one of Orion's three core therapy areas, and, measured by net sales, Parkinson's disease drugs are Orion's largest family of pharmaceutical preparations. Stalevo has been on the market since 2003.   Orion has been responsible…

Shield Therapeutics plc (LSE:STX), a commercial stage, pharmaceutical company delivering innovative specialty pharmaceuticals to address patients’ unmet medical needs, is pleased to note the announcement today by Norgine that they have launched Feraccru® in the UK.  Feraccru® is a novel, effective and well tolerated treatment for Iron Deficiency in adults.  In September 2018, Shield licensed Feraccru® to Norgine B.V. in most European territories.   Carl Sterritt, Chief Executive Officer of Shield Therapeutics, added: “I am delighted that Norgine’s UK team is now starting to promote Feraccru® in the UK.  Since announcing the licence agreement in September 2018, we have been working closely with Norgine to transfer knowledge and responsibilities from Shield to them and…

Q BioMed Inc. (OTCQB: QBIO), a biotechnology acceleration company, is pleased to announce that it has entered into agreement to acquire the metastatic skeletal cancer palliation drug, Metastron™, from GE Healthcare.   The agreement gives Q BioMed ownership of the brand, trademarks and market authorizations in 22 countries. In addition, all historical and current sales and distribution data related to those market authorisations will be assigned or transferred to Q BioMed to allow for as seamless a transition as possible in all markets.   Q BioMed CEO Denis Corin said of the deal, “This is a major deal for Q BioMed. Strategically, it affirms our belief in this drug as an effective and underutilized non-opioid therapy for the treatment of debilitating pain associated with skele…

The agreement will see the implementation of Elsevier's Order Sets and Care Planning solutions in all three Al Hammadi hospitals over the next five years Elsevier, the information analytics business specializing in science and health, today announced an agreement with Al Hammadi Company for Development and Investment (Al Hammadi) to implement Elsevier's Order Sets and Care Planning solutions in Al Hammadi hospitals across Saudi Arabia. Al Hammadi currently oversees three large hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Al Hammadi Hospital Al Olaya (300 beds), Al Hammadi Hospital Al Suwaidi (428 beds), and Al Hammadi Hospital Al Nuzha (600 beds). Implementation of Order Sets and Care Planning solutions marks an important step of digital transformation for the hospital. The Saudi Arabian governme…

Mazor Robotics Ltd. (TASE: MZOR; NASDAQGM: MZOR), a pioneer and a leader in the field of robotic guidance systems, today announced that at a Special General Meeting of Shareholders held earlier today, Mazor Robotics shareholders approved the previously announced definitive merger agreement with wholly-owned subsidiaries of Medtronic plc (NYSE: MDT). Approximately 53 percent of Mazor Robotics ordinary shares were represented in the meeting. Approximately 95 percent of the shares represented in the meeting which are neither held by a Medtronic affiliated party nor by a controlling shareholder of the Company or a shareholder with a personal interest in the merger proposal, were cast in favor of the merger. Upon completion of the transaction, Mazor Robotics shareholders will receive $58.50 p…

TIME has selected ACUVUE OASYS with Transitions Light Intelligent Technology as one of the 'Best Inventions of 2018,' in its annual round-up spotlighting groundbreaking innovations worldwide. The development of ACUVUE OASYS with Transitions has created and defined an entirely new category of contact lenses that provides wearers with vision correction and reduces blaring light*,i for all-day soothing vision.** The contact lenses – built for a modern and active lifestyle – help reduce exposure to bright light indoors and outdoors, including filtering blue light¨ and blocking UV rays that can impact eye comfort and vision.+‡ ii,iii,iv,v,vi "Receiving this prestigious designation for ACUVUE OASYS with Transitions alongside other game-changing inventions that are improving the way we live in…

Grünenthal announced today that it has acquired the US-based pharmaceutical company Averitas Pharma, thereby extending its commercial footprint to the United States. Averitas Pharma will be commercialising the pain patch Qutenza® (8 % capsaicin) for Grünenthal in the US. Grünenthal had only recently acquired the remaining global rights, including the US rights, for the product from Acorda Therapeutics. "I am proud to say that we are now establishing our own commercial presence in the world's biggest pharma market, the US, for the first time," says Gabriel Baertschi, Grünenthal's Chief Executive Officer. "This acquisition is another important milestone in executing our growth strategy and expanding our business across multiple pain related therapeutic categories and geographies. Averitas P…

Lannett Company, Inc. (NYSE: LCI) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Amneal) with regard to Levothyroxine Sodium Tablets USP.  Under the agreement, Amneal will be Lannett's sole customer for Levothyroxine Sodium beginning December 1, 2018 through March 23, 2019, and will re-sell the products to its customers.  Lannett will receive an upfront payment of $50 million, other terms of the transaction were not disclosed. As previously announced, Lannett's distribution agreement with Jerome Stevens Pharmaceuticals (JSP), which includes Levothyroxine Sodium Tablets USP, expires on March 23, 2019 and will not be renewed. "This agreement benefits all parties, including and importantly patients and customers who can be assured of a def…