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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Can a plasma-based treatment boost Gilead's remdesivir? NIH starts phase 3 trial to find out

When the first placebo-controlled data for Gilead’s remdesivir came out, analysts agreed it was no “silver bullet” for COVID-19. But it didn’t have to be, said Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day, who saw it as a steppingstone to other treatments and one that could even be combined to work better. Now, the National Institutes of Health will test that theory as it kicks off a global study pairing the antiviral drug with plasma-based treatments.

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Top Stories

Amgen heart failure med, in 'unimpressive' showing, hits phase 3 goal—but doesn't extend patients' lives

Amgen and Cytokinetics’ heart drug omecamtiv mecarbil hit the mark in a phase 3 study, beating placebo at warding off hospitalizations and other interventions in patients with a type of chronic heart failure. But even though the study technically succeeded, the drug did not help patients live longer—and industry watchers weren't impressed.

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Fauci weighs in on Regeneron's Trump-backed COVID-19 drug: 'Good chance' it helped him

Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, M.D., has said of Regeneron’s experimental antibody cocktail that: “There is a reasonably good chance that in fact it made [President Donald Trump] much better.”

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Sponsored: Xevinapant’s 3-year data make waves in head and neck cancer at ESMO 2020

Xevinapant in combination with standard cisplatin-based chemoradiation therapy (CRT) reduces the risk of death in high-risk patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer by 50%.. This first-in-class molecule showed it could improve long-term outcomes in hard-to-treat patients, becoming the first in decades to demonstrate a survival benefit in this group.

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Corbus to ax half of staff after back-to-back trial failures

Corbus Pharmaceuticals is laying off 54% of its workforce to eke its cash reserves out to mid-2022. The ax wielding follows the failure of lead drug lenabasum in two advanced clinical trials in the space of a month. 

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Sensei raises $29M to advance anti-cancer bacteriophage pipeline

Sensei Biotherapeutics has raised $28.5 million to advance a pipeline of personalized cancer drugs. The financing round comes weeks after Sensei shared clinical data on the effect of combining its lead asset SNS-301 with Merck’s checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda.

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Neocis raises $72M from DFJ, Fred Moll, others for its dental surgery robot

Neocis has raised $72 million in funding to help support its groundbreaking robotic surgery system for use in dental implant procedures.

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Stopping COVID-19 by targeting out-of-control immune cells

A Johns Hopkins team found that blocking the protein factor D prevented the process by which SARS-CoV-2 over-stimulates the immune response, causing the destruction of healthy cells in the lungs, blood vessels and organs. They believe the discovery could inspire new treatments to prevent severe COVID-19 symptoms.

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FiercePharmaAsia—COVID-19 data from China-made antibody, vaccine; Takeda-Arrowhead $1B RNAi collab

Eli Lilly reported positive data for its COVID-19 antibody cocktail, with one component licensed from Junshi Biosciences. Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences' inactivated COVID vaccine passed a phase 1 test. Takeda shelled out $300 million upfront to work with Arrowhead on an RNAi therapy for liver disease. And more.

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Chutes & Ladders—Sanofi CSO Nabel steps down in favor of insider Nestle

Sanofi's CSO Nabel steps down from role; BioMarin adds Eggan to head early research; Shams joins ProQR as CSO.

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Resources

Webinar: Streamline your Clinical Research Organization's processes on the Salesforce Platform

Join this webinar to learn first hand why executing clinical research trials end-to-end on a single platform is the best way to successfully meet the needs of today’s market.

Whitepaper: COMPLIANCE –THE COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATOR TO COMMERCIALIZATION: An Integrated Model Setting the New Global Standard

An integrated compliance model can be the competitive differentiator to commercialization and move the needle from cost center to value. Learn How.

Q&A: Planning Successful Launches

Learn about proven strategies for a successful product launch, including cross-functional team collaboration, risk management and using the right project management tools.

eBook: CMC Considerations for Successful Early Drug Development

This eBook provides insights on key approaches and considerations for preparing your drug development program for long-term success.

Webinar: Phase Appropriate Expertise and Technologies to Accelerate Product Development to Commercialization

In this webinar, pharmaceutical scientists present real-life examples of challenges they’ve overcome in the transfer of oral small molecules from a dedicated early-phase development site to a dedicated late-phase manufacturing site.

Whitepaper: How to Achieve Time and Cost Reductions in Clinical Trial Design and Build

Learn how to save time and reduce costs and complexity by streamlining the clinical trial process.

Whitepaper: Position Your Pharmaceutical Lab for Success

Want to leapfrog lengthy LIMS deployments and position your pharmaceutical lab for success? Find out how with LabVantage Solutions.

Whitepaper: Technology Transfers: Reaping Rewards, Reducing Risks

Learn how to safeguard supply, improve distribution and reduce program costs and risks

Whitepaper: Making Data Central to Your CNS and Pain Trials

Learn how the right data capture solution can prompt the patient to follow the correct procedures and automatically sort the responses, according to protocol.

Whitepaper: Research Reveals New Launch Standards for First-to-launch Pharma and Biotech Companies

While COVID-19 has shifted the rules of the healthcare industry, research shows there was already progress on changes being made for how pharma companies are launching products.

Whitepaper: 16 Biopharma Leaders Tell How COVID-19 Will Change Customer Engagement

Senior executives from 16 biopharma companies share their thoughts on how COVID-19 will change how the industry engages with its customers.

A complete Life Science Industry Snapshot in One Report

Whitepaper: Five Imperatives for Becoming More Patient-Centric

Achieving patient centricity depends on evolving how evidence is generated.

Whitepaper: Why Your Business Needs a Ransomware Strategy To Avoid Being Hacked!

Cybercriminals Are Actively Exploiting The Coronavirus Pandemic To Gain Entry To Enterprise Networks. Don’t Let Your Company Become The Next Ransomware Headline -- Make These Changes Now!

Whitepaper: Leverage Technology to Expedite Master Protocol Trials

This white paper addresses the complexity of basket and umbrella designs, and how modern technology is critical to run flexible, agile and quality-driven trials.

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.

Executive Summary: Keys to a Successful Rapid Commercial Launch

Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are spending years developing drugs or promising new biologics, all with the hopes of saving or enhancing patients’ lives. It’s a “race to the finish” in some cases, and the quicker a company can get its product to patients, the better.

eBook: Navigating the Insulin Affordability Act

Download the whitepaper for a solution designed to connect manufacturers, pharmacists, and patients. In this special guide, you will learn not just about the law but about the portal platform designed to change the entire process for all.

Whitepaper: Reducing the Complexity and Costs of Channel Planning and Logistics

Identifying opportunities to simplify channel strategies and business processes for biopharma companies, their customers and patients.

Whitepaper: The Art of Recognizing Clinical Supply Risk Factors

In a BioPharma Dive industry survey, planning and forecasting were identified as top concerns for trial sponsors. In response to this need, the CSM team at Catalent has developed a methodology for identifying, evaluating, and proactively managing the inherent risks involved in clinical trial supply chain management.

Case Study: Establishing Parameters for Success

Learn about a real-world example of how clinical supply management expertise was applied to overcome inventory challenges for a complex, global study.

Fact Sheet: Forecasting to Optimize Clinical Trial Supply Management

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.

eBook: Expecting the Unexpected: Strategies for Efficient Clinical Supply Management and Forecasting

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.

Events