Today's Rundown Merck inks Themis buyout to join COVID-19 vaccine race Argenx's autoimmune phase 3 hits goals, teeing up FDA filing Muscle disorder biotech Avidity aims for the clinic with $100M IPO [Sponsored] How Treatment Technology is Advancing the Discovery of Cancer Medicines Generation Bio tees up $125M IPO to push next-gen gene therapies Insitro nets $143M to ramp up machine learning drug discovery The top 10 medtech deals of 2019 Tufts team repairs brain defects in frogs with 'bioelectric' drugs Trailing Big Pharma peers, Merck inks deals to advance COVID-19 drugs, vaccines Featured Story | | | Tuesday, May 26, 2020 Merck has struck a deal to buy Themis to accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. The takeover will see Merck, a latecomer to the response to SARS-CoV-2, apply its vaccine capabilities to a candidate based on Themis’ measles vector platform that is set to enter the clinic this year. |
|
|---|
|
Top Stories Tuesday, May 26, 2020 A phase 3 trial of Argenx’s efgartigimod in generalized myasthenia gravis patients has hit its primary endpoint, setting the European biotech up to file for FDA approval by the end of the year. Tuesday, May 26, 2020 Six months after banking a $100 million venture round, Avidity Biosciences is heading to the public market. The company filed to raise up to $100 million in its IPO, which will push its lead muscle disorder program through IND-enabling studies and into the clinic in 2021. Monday, May 25, 2020 Jazz Pharmaceuticals is applying its proprietary technology to recognize the potential of combination therapy for treating cancer patients and redefining what is possible in the treatment landscape. Tuesday, May 26, 2020 Another preclinical-stage biotech is taking to the public markets—Generation Bio filed for a $215 million IPO to advance gene therapies for hemophilia A and phynylketonuria and push one of them into the clinic. The deal comes on the heels of a $110 million venture round raised in January this year. Tuesday, May 26, 2020 In the two years since it set up shop, insitro has been plugging away at a data- and machine learning-driven approach to drug discovery. Now, the company is picking up $143 million to build out its technology, pursue new targets and advance treatments for genetically defined patient groups. For medtech deals, 2019 started off with a bang. By the end of June, enough money had changed hands to completely eclipse 2018’s total M&A value. But that pace would not last. Tuesday, May 26, 2020 Scientists at the Tufts University Allen Discovery Center discovered that the anti-seizure drugs lamotrigine and gabapentin can restore normal bioelectric patterns in frog brains damaged by nicotine exposure. Administering the drugs to tadpoles reduced the formation of brain defects and promoted the development of normal learning capacity. Tuesday, May 26, 2020 For months, as the world’s largest vaccine companies jumped into COVID-19 research and inked partnerships, Merck was conspicuously quiet. That changed in late April when the drug giant unveiled some of its early efforts—and now, Merck is publicly unveiling a vaccine partnership with the U.S. government, a biotech buyout and an R&D pact for a potential therapeutic. Enrollment Showcase | | | Sponsored by: Drexel University Online Drexel University’s online graduate programs in biomedicine, clinical research, drug discovery, and molecular medicine were developed with working professionals in mind, providing you with the education, practical skills, and competitive edge you need to be successful in your career. Learn more. |
|
|---|
|
Resources Sponsored by: Copyright Clearance Center Dive into the history of biomedical classification and how these systems have evolved to address new technology and use cases. Sponsored by: Catalent Learn about a real-world example of how clinical supply management expertise was applied to overcome inventory challenges for a complex, global study. Sponsored by: Catalent Whether a study is simple or highly complex, forecasting and simulation reports serve as data driven communication tools to help minimize risks and keep the study on track. Learn more about forecasting solutions for informed decision making and supporting contingency planning for clinical study. Sponsored by: Catalent Learn how to drive excellence within the forecasting process and utilize forecasting throughout the clinical study to better plan clinical supply budgets and project timelines. Explore how to identify potential supply-related issues before they can negatively impact your study. Sponsored by: Frontage Laboratories, Inc. Listen to our brand-new Frontage Laboratories podcast where you’ll take home tips for developing residual host cell proteins ELISA assay for biopharmaceutical products using commercial kits. Wednesday, May 20, 2020 | Time: 10am-3.30pm (BST) Join us for a day of discovery as global experts in Cardiology, Pharmacology and Diabetes discuss state of the art methods in early phase clinical research. Sponsored by: Optum The immediacy of EHR data availability can be significantly impactful, particularly as the health care system works to address COVID-19. Download this whitepaper to learn more. Sponsored by: Oracle Health Sciences Patient-facing digital technologies are playing an important role in clinical trials for new drugs and medical devices, to the point where conducting virtual trials is becoming mainstream. But terms like remote trials, direct-to-patient trials, hybrid trials, decentralized trials, and more all add to the confusion of what makes a trial "virtual." Sponsored by: Outer Edge Technology Businesses must maintain pre-pandemic levels of productivity with smaller IT budgets. Learn why an effective Cloud Strategy is imperative for success in these unprecedented times. Presented by: Rousselot | May 28, 2020 | 11am ET / 8am PT / 5pm CEST You are invited to join Rousselot Biomedical for an insightful webinar on excipients for vaccine formulation. Highly purified gelatins can help accelerate vaccine development. Sponsored by: Patheon, by Thermo Fisher Scientific Continuous Manufacturing vs. Batch for Oral Solid Dose Sponsored by: Cenduit, LLC Download this case study to read about how Cenduit navigated these challenges, and successfully supports the trial sponsor to execute the umbrella trial with agility. Sponsored by: Patheon, by Thermo Fisher Scientific Download this whitepaper to learn more about the importance of an integrated approach to formulation. Sponsored by: Acorn AI by Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company Case Study: Oncology-focused pharmaceutical company strengthens product launch by identifying hundreds of high-value physicians with Acorn AI. Sponsored by: Clarify Health Pharma launch teams spend significant resources on data and analytics with limited ROI. Read this case study to learn how a Life Sciences company identified two times more patients best suited for therapy, using Clarify’s deep and longitudinal patient and HCP insights. Sponsored by: Recro Gainesville Wurster processing is a versatile technique for developing and manufacturing multiparticulates for modified release dosage forms. Read this whitepaper to determine whether Wurster processing is the right option for your project. Sponsored by: AMRI In this webinar, the featured speaker will explore the key advances and critical hurdles for translating these emerging molecular biology technologies into real-world applications and commercial processes. Sponsored by: Quotient Sciences Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) white paper sharing study results that indicate Quotient Sciences’ Translational Pharmaceutics® platform reduces development times by more than 12 months and lowers R&D costs by more than $100 million per approved new drug. Download the whitepaper. Sponsored by: Lonza This whitepaper summarises approaches for modulating antibody effector functions and pharmacokinetics, and provides examples of antibodies in clinical studies. Sponsored by: BBK Worldwide Leverage strategic solutions to respond to immediate challenges to patient and site engagement from COVID-19, and learn to maximize the FDA guidance on the conduct of clinical trials during a pandemic. Medical Affairs Strategic Summit (MASS) East April 14-16, 2020 | New Brunswick, NJ 8-week Online Courses in Life Sciences Law and Compliance Virtual Course | May 31st, 2020 PEGS Virtual Interactive Summit Virtual Event | June 2-26, 2020 European Healthcare Compliance Certificate Program June 2-5, 2020 | Paris, France BIO 2020 Now Fully Virtual: Announcing BIO Digital June 8-11, 2020 | Virtual Event Drug Development Boot Camp® 2020 November 18-19, 2020 | Register now! Pre-Boot Camp training is in session. | Take your new medicine development skills to the next level. | 