Merck’s HIV program almost ready for regulators
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Today's Rundown

 

Featured Story

Pfizer, Novartis sign on to accelerate gene therapies for rare diseases with US agencies

A cadre of big and small biotechs and pharmas plus nonprofit organizations have signed on to a new U.S. federal government initiative to go after gene therapies for rare diseases.

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Top Stories

Sanofi hit by filing delays for key drugs, drops an early Sangamo thalassemia asset

Sanofi, in its third-quarter financials posted early Thursday morning, outlined a list of delays for a number of key assets as it dropped a biotech-partnered drug.

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Merck's HIV program closer to regulator's doorstep with 2 phase 3 trials showing efficacy comparable to existing meds

The addition of Merck's new oral pill to a cocktail of approved medicines for HIV-1 produced a viral response comparable to common treatments including antiretroviral therapies in two phase 3 trials, moving the pharma closer to a regulatory filing for a new way to treat the stubborn virus. 

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Sponsored: New Wacker Biotech site in San Diego (CA) serves growing pDNA demand for cell & gene therapy

Plasmid DNA Manufacturing: New Wacker Biotech site in San Diego (CA) serves growing pDNA demand for cell & gene therapy. Learn more about our plug & play platform.

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Checkmate's single asset bet will be up to new CEO as Labinger exits

Checkmate Pharmaceuticals President and CEO Barry Labinger is out the door at the clinical-stage cancer biotech without an explanation, and financial operations veteran Alan Fuhrman will take on his duties in an interim role. 

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Frazier has raised an $830M public life science fund. Here's how it plans to invest the cash

Frazier Healthcare Partners is expanding its investment activity, raising $830 million for its first fund dedicated to public life science companies. The targets? Small and mid-cap biotechs that are off the beaten path or recovering from a value-crushing setback.

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Takeda buys out collaborator GammaDelta Therapeutics for solid tumor pipeline

Takeda will buy its gamma-delta T-cell therapy partner GammaDelta Therapeutics after the U.K. biotech began its first clinical trial just last month. The two companies initially came together in 2017 under a $100 million R&D agreement.

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Telecom tycoon's phase 3 pancreatic cancer bet flames out, sending stock to the basement

Rafael Pharmaceuticals' bet on the rock-hard pancreatic cancer indication has blown up in its face. The pivotal trial found devimistat had no effect on overall survival—and, as a kicker, another phase 3 in a blood cancer was stopped early for futility.

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How targeting a genetic signature of cellular stress may boost cancer immunotherapy

A research team from MD Anderson Cancer Center has found a genetic signature that could not only help doctors select the the patients most likely to respond to immuno-oncology drugs, but that could also open the door to sensitizing other patients to immunotherapy. The genetic signature signals deficiencies in a cellular process called the "replication stress response."

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FDA outlines best practices for healthcare AI, alongside Canada, U.K. regulators

The 10 principles aim to underline what the agencies describe as “Good Machine Learning Practice” in the same vein as the industry quality standards centered around product manufacturing or clinical testing.

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Sanofi's €10B sales target for Dupixent? The 'megabrand' is more than halfway there, exec says

Shortly after Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson joined the company in 2019, he laid out an ambition to invest as much as necessary to turn the Regeneron-partnered antibody drug Dupixent into a megablockbuster. Two years later, Sanofi is well on its way.

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How Optum's HouseCalls pivoted to virtual when houses couldn't be visited during the pandemic

Optum's HouseCalls program, which aims to improve care coordination for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, had to quickly pivot from house calls to telehealth visits in less than two weeks.

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Resources

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Research: eTMF Implementation Quick Guide

Check out the eTMF Implementation Quick Guide to see a checklist TMF experts developed to help you reduce risks, maintain compliance, and establish effective processes in your eTMF.

Whitepaper: Modernizing Key Clinical Trial Processes with Artificial Intelligence

This whitepaper addresses where AI can make the biggest impact in clinical trials.

Free Infographic: Identifying Opportunities for Biotech Scale-Up

Looking to accelerate your biotech company, but not sure where to start?

Paid Marketplace: Online Graduate Programs Designed for Your Career

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.

Report: New research indicates an accelerated shift to decentralized clinical trials

New research indicates an accelerated adoption of decentralized clinical trials due to COVID-19.

Whitepaper: Transform LIMS Data into Action-Ready Insights with Advanced Analytics

Shift from data collection to data science. Add advanced analytics to your lab informatics platform to yield valuable, action-ready insights from LIMS and other data.

Whitepaper: Clinical trial simulation: Advanced modeling techniques enable data-driven supply chain planning

Integrate supply chain simulation into your early clinical trial planning to minimize risk in an uncertain supply chain environment, improve supply chain outcomes, and help streamline time-to-market for innovative therapies.

Whitepaper: Big Challenges for Small Sponsors: Competition in Oncology Research

Every biopharma sponsor faces the challenge of initiating, running and closing trials on time, but oncology studies pose several unique hurdles.

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.

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