Amgen snags Moderna’s CMO

Today's Big News

Jun 15, 2023

Another of Mersana's ADCs slapped with FDA hold, this time over bleeding events that include 5 deaths


Lilly adds to gene editing arsenal, paying Verve $60M for preclinical cardiovascular program


Full circle for Paul Burton as Moderna exec returns to Amgen, this time for expanded CMO role


Syncona blames £80M drop in its biotech valuations on 'challenging market'


Awaiting FDA’s decision, Aldeyra’s dry eye disease drug scores phase 3 win for conjunctivitis


Astellas adds Cullgen to parade of protein degrader pacts, paying $35M upfront to access tech


Cancer drug from Pfizer appears to stop aneurysm growth, opening door to nonsurgical treatment

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Another of Mersana's ADCs slapped with FDA hold, this time over bleeding events that include 5 deaths

Mersana Therapeutics' lead antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) has had the clamps put down by the FDA over bleeding events in patients that have included five fatalities.
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Top Stories

Lilly adds to gene editing arsenal, paying Verve $60M for preclinical cardiovascular program

Eli Lilly is joining Amgen and Novartis in the pack of drugmakers aiming to treat cardiovascular disease by targeting lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)). The Big Pharma landed a spot at the back of the bunch by handing Verve Therapeutics $60 million for rights to its once-and-done gene editing approach to the problem protein.

Full circle for Paul Burton as Moderna exec returns to Amgen, this time for expanded CMO role

After nearly 20 years away, pharma vet Paul Burton, M.D., Ph.D., is returning to Amgen. The leader will leave his chief medical officer spot at Moderna for the same role at Amgen.

Minimizing Barriers to eConsent Adoption

Michael Hughes, Chief Product Officer at YPrime discusses the benefits and challenges of eConsent implementation and how to circumvent the biggest barriers to adoption.

Syncona blames £80M drop in its biotech valuations on 'challenging market'

Syncona has blamed the “challenging market environment” for another quarter of falling valuations, as the life sciences investment firm pushes its portfolio of biotechs to trim back their pipelines.

Sanyou Milestones | Super Trillion Common Light Chain Antibody Discovery Platform Launched

On June 12th, 2023 local time, Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. officially announced the launch of "Sanyou Super Trillion Common Light Chain Antibody Discovery Platform" (the "platform"). As one of the nine trillion antibody discovery platforms of Sanyou, the platform features a library capacity of up to 1.12E+12 CFU. For a single target, the platform can generate hundreds of lead antibodies with diverse sequences, which can be further designed into bispecific antibodies with good drug developability, providing a feasible solution for obtaining bispecific antibodies with structures similar to the natural monoclonal antibodies

Awaiting FDA's decision, Aldeyra's dry eye disease drug scores phase 3 win for conjunctivitis

Aldeyra Therapeutics has notched up another phase 3 win for its allergic conjunctivitis treatment, as the biotech awaits an FDA approval decision for dry eye disease.

Janssen’s approach to business development and strategic partnerships

The creation of collaborative partnerships continues to be essential to delivering transformational therapies to address critical healthcare needs.

Astellas adds Cullgen to parade of protein degrader pacts, paying $35M upfront to access tech

Astellas has found a biotech capable of enhancing its in-house protein degradation skills. Having used its internal capabilities to hustle a KRAS candidate into the clinic, the Japanese drugmaker has agreed to pay Cullgen $35 million upfront to access next-generation prospects.

Cancer drug from Pfizer appears to stop aneurysm growth, opening door to nonsurgical treatment

Brain aneurysms at risk of rupture can only be treated with surgery, and that may not be possible if the aneurysm is in a hard-to-access location. But a new study hints at another solution: the cancer drug sunitinib, commercialized by Pfizer as Sutent, which appears to prevent aneurysms in mice.

Valneva seeks help in deciding what to do with COVID vaccine plant in Scotland: report

A vaccine manufacturing facility conceived as an example of the good that can come from a public/private partnership now sits empty in Scotland, with its fate yet to be determined. French biotech Valneva reportedly hired commercial real estate firm JLL to help determine what to do with the 75,000-square-foot plant in Livingston, West Lothian.

Pfizer makes Lady Gaga the star of Nurtec ODT migraine push

Pfizer has a new star on the telephone. After working with Khloe Kardashian to move Nurtec ODT to the edge of glory, the migraine therapy’s marketing team has signed up Lady Gaga to give patients a million reasons to take the treatment.

Paige expands AI tools for breast cancer diagnosis to reduce subjectivity, manual tasks for pathologists

Paige is enhancing its suite of AI-powered tools designed to support pathologists in the diagnosis of breast cancer while decreasing subjectivity and the tedium of manual analysis.

FDA committee set to discuss strain selection for next round of COVID-19 boosters

While demand for COVID-19 vaccines has plummeted throughout 2023, healthcare officials remain focused on ensuring that the most effective shots are available for those who need them. Now, regulators are discussing strain selection for the next round of boosters.
 
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