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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Lilly, with Alzheimer's in its crosshairs, forms new neuroscience unit, unifies oncology under Loxo exec

Neuroscience has zoomed up the agenda at Eli Lilly as the combination of data on donanemab and the accelerated approval of Biogen’s Aduhelm has opened up an opportunity in Alzheimer’s disease. Lilly has responded by splitting off its late-phase neurodegeneration and pain prospects into a new business unit.

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Top Stories

Psychedelics are getting closer to approval, but the market may not be ready

Investor interest is pushing psychedelics-based therapy mainstream and it’s now time to figure out the tricky regulatory issues that have held these therapies back, as the leading developer moves towards seeking approval in 2023.

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Sanofi wanted to dump Translate Bio in April, but the mRNA biotech prevailed for a $3.2B deal instead

Sanofi was prepared to dump a quarter of its holding in Translate Bio in April—which the mRNA biotech agreed to. So how, exactly, did the French pharma end up buying Translate for $3.2 billion two weeks ago? Under-the-hood details of the deal were revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing disclosed by Translate Monday.

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Sponsored: Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery Requires Validated Data

Machine-learning-based techniques in drug and diagnostic discovery require copious amounts of biomedical data, and that data needs to be validated to ensure success.

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Going big: Bain reels in $1.9B for more mammoth biotech bets

Bain Capital’s time in life science investing has been defined by big numbers: $720 million for its first fund, $1.1 billion for the second fund, $350 million for a single bet on Pfizer’s neuroscience pipeline. Now, Bain has made those numbers look small by reeling in a reported $1.9 billion for its third fund.

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Qualigen calls it quits on COVID antiviral after pouring millions into R&D

The FDA wanted a couple more clinical studies for Qualigen’s investigational COVID-19 antiviral before human testing, but the biotech is calling it quits instead. Infectious disease medicine QN-165 will be shelved for now, as Qualigen shifts focus instead to its oncology pipeline, including QN-247 and RAS-F for a variety of cancers.

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Aurinia stocks pipeline with $7M deal for 2 preclinical assets after securing crucial FDA nod

With lupus nephritis med Lupkynis under its belt, Canadian biopharma Aurinia Pharmaceuticals is shelling out $7 million for two new preclinical assets to build out the next phase of its pipeline. The company has acquired Thunderbolt Pharma and inked a global licensing and research agreement with Riptide Bioscience to grow beyond Lupkynis, according to a Tuesday statement.

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Novartis-backed Penn study proposes boosting CAR-T responses in CLL by waking up 'war weary' T cells

CAR-T treatments like Novartis’ Kymriah have proven effective in some B-cell-driven cancers, with one notable exception: chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania showed in a new study that inhibiting BET proteins can improve CAR-T functioning by reviving exhausted T cells.

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ResMed unveils new sleep apnea machine amid scramble to fill void left by Philips' CPAP recall

After Philips issued a recall in mid-June of nearly two dozen models of its continuous and noncontinuous ventilators, ResMed has eagerly stepped up to fill in the market gap left by Philips’ absence.

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Oracle of Organon: Buffett's Berkshire cashes out on Biogen, trims pharma holdings but discloses stake in Merck spinoff

Unlike other high-tech stocks such as Amazon and Apple where Warren Buffett is playing the long game, the Oracle of Omaha was apparently in Biogen for the short run.

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Surprise FDA rejection halts Sesen Bio's launch in its tracks, putting newly hired sales team in limbo

Last week, Sesen Bio was finalizing label wording with the FDA on its bladder cancer hopeful Vicineum. This week, the CEO is explaining to investors how it will continue going forward after an FDA rejection. The unexpected FDA turn on Vicineum caught Sesen and its followers by surprise—but it’s far from alone lately.

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HIMSS21: Facebook, YouTube say stamping out COVID misinformation is much more than 'plucking all the weeds'

Beyond playing whack-a-mole with individual pieces of content, social media platforms need to take a proactive approach to developing and surfacing trustworthy information, representatives said during a HIMSS21 virtual panel.

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Resources

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Whitepaper: Navigating the Digital Transformation Journey

Uncover the real impact of “digital transformation” with practical advice to help you plan your own transformative journey to a harmonized digital ecosystem.

eBook: Get solutions to market faster

Read Get to Know Cloud Content Management for Life Sciences and learn how to eliminate silos across all workflows, from R&D to commercialization.

eBrief: Drug Product Process Development: Ensuring a Consistent, High-quality Biologic

Learn about drug product process development challenges and risks, the difference between innovator and biosimilar drug product process development, and more during the drug product process development phase.

Whitepaper: Achieving a Successful Drug Product Technology Transfer

Get insights on key considerations for a successful tech transfer process for manufacturing a biologic drug product, including a case study on overcoming challenges in a process transfer for a sterile diluent.

Content Hub: Remarque Systems Resource Hub

Remarque Systems consolidates data, then layers on visualization and automated metrics to generate consistent, actionable data insights in real-time. Click here for more info. 

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