| Welcome to FierceLifeSci Weekly Digest, your roundup of the biggest and most popular stories from each of our publications. | |
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Featured Story | | | Wednesday, April 17, 2019 GlaxoSmithKline is set to lay off a small number of R&D employees at its Stevenage, U.K., site as part of a wider rethink of its drug development operation. The layoffs come as GSK revises its R&D strategy under the scientific leadership of Hal Barron. |
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| This week's sponsor is FierceBiotech. | |  | |
Top Stories Of The Week Friday, April 12, 2019 Despite campaigning by Starboard Value and other institutional investors to scuttle Bristol-Myers Squibb's Celgene buyout, 75% of shareholders backed the deal in Friday's official vote. Now, the combined company will get its chance to tackle a range of challenges, from an FTC investigation to the looming patent expiration on Celgene's blockbuster Revlimid. Monday, April 15, 2019 Four pharma companies reaped a combined $7 billion in savings from two provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which the Trump administration said would create jobs and boost investment. But Big Pharma spent most of that windfall on investor payouts, an Oxfam report says. Tuesday, April 16, 2019 Daphne Koller’s Insitro launched last May with a blog post detailing a broad vision without getting too deep into the weeds. Now, Insitro is ready to share a little more—starting with a Gilead partnership worth $15 million upfront, but that could total more than $1 billion. Tuesday, April 16, 2019 If you’ve ever wished your genetic analyzer could work more like your smartphone, you may be in luck: Thermo Fisher Scientific is bringing high-tech upgrades to its real-time PCR instruments it says are designed to improve the user experience. Monday, April 15, 2019 Targeted therapies have been widely adopted in several cancer types, but not in bladder cancer—until a new nod the FDA doled out to FGFR inhibitor Balversa on Friday. For developer Johnson & Johnson, it means potential $1 billion sales. Wednesday, April 17, 2019 Scott Gottlieb’s relatively short two-year tenure as the FDA’s head has ended, and we have a new man at the helm: Ned Sharpless. However, he used his first official talk to ensure we all know he’s not looking to tear up Gottlieb’s legacy. Friday, April 12, 2019 Merck & Co.’s Keytruda is already approved as a monotherapy in previously untreated non-small cell lung cancer patients with high levels of PD-L1. Now, thanks to a new FDA green light, it’s allowed in patients with low PD-L1 levels, too. But analysts have expressed doubts about its real-world use. Monday, April 15, 2019 Scientists at Boston Children's Hospital and MIT built CAR-T cells that are inspired by alpaca antibodies and can target protective proteins around solid tumors. They plan to test the approach in pancreatic and bile duct cancers. Tuesday, April 16, 2019 Smoke from a fire set off by welding sparks reportedly killed 10 workers and injured a dozen rescuers at a pharmaceutical plant in China. Resources Presented by: Total Brain Total Brain Announces Personalized Test for Treatment Prediction in Depression with 80% Accuracy. Sponsored by: Veradigm Prescription price transparency technology is here – but is it making a difference? Find out HERE. Sponsored by: Strativity Every life sciences firm talks about patient-centricity, but are you doing what it takes to deliver? Sponsored by: BioAnalytix, Inc. Discussion of the potential for improving biologic drug development success through earlier, strategic application of advanced mass spectrometry, because currently, with most biologic drugs, including gene therapies, failures are realized in late-stage development, after substantial investment has been made in a candidate. Sponsored by: PointCross Life Sciences Clinical trials and biomarker data from patients when unified, harmonized, and made searchable; is a rich, reliable and controlled resource for research. This paper sets out the requirements for a Translational and Biomarker Research Workbench for scientists using the experiences from use of Xbiom™ at BioPharma. Sponsored by: Unchained Labs Download this whitepaper to learn more! Sponsored by: Patheon, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific Is Flow Chemistry right for your API Development? Sponsored by: Veradigm Real-World case study by Veradigm suggests that new medications specifically approved for the treatment of systolic heart failure may be underutilized despite being important advances in patient care. Sponsored by: AlphaSense From new regulations to drug pricing and the latest M&A deals, learn how AI is making it easier for competitive intelligence to uncover the insights they need to stay ahead of the curve. Sponsored by: Biotech Primer The Biopharma industry is moving at lightning speed and it can be a challenge to keep pace. Here at Biotech Primer we spend hours each week researching, writing, and editing original content for the Biotech Primer WEEKLY with one goal in mind: to help everyone better understand the latest science and technology driving today’s healthcare industry. | 
