// Biotech and Pharma Therapeutics
J&J sees potential for 14 new multibillion-dollar drugs by 2025
Johnson & Johnson expects to file for approval of 14 new drugs by 2025, and has projected average peak sales of $4 billion a year for each, a top J&J scientist said ahead of a strategy review of the company’s pharmaceuticals unit on Thursday.
www.reuters.com
Bayer CEO Rejects a Breakup After J&J and General Electric Split
Bayer AG’s chief executive officer said the conglomerate will continue to run its three main business units under one roof, even as investor interest in the potential for splits among large diversified companies has intensified.
www.bloomberg.com
FDA approves Merck’s Keytruda as first immunotherapy for early kidney cancer
Immune-boosting drugs like Keytruda are increasingly being tested, and proven effective, alongside surgery before tumors spread widely.
www.biopharmadive.com
// 4th Industrial Revolution
Why Pharma Should Develop a Core Digital Offering
How can pharma create solutions that are effective, can provide long-term value, and will actually be adopted by HCPs and patients?
www.pharmexec.com
Study: Digital tools don’t improve physical activity for people with low socioeconomic status
A systematic review of studies found digital interventions like wearables and apps weren’t effective in increasing physical activity for people in low socioeconomic status groups.
www.mobihealthnews.com
Prescription VR pain relief earns FDA nod
Novartis and Johnson & Johnson are among the companies best positioned to take advantage of future artificial intelligence disruption in...
aiin.healthcare
Fish-Shaped Microrobots to Deliver Chemotherapy to Tumors | Medgadget
Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China, working with outside collaborators, have developed shape-shifting microrobots that are designed to be guided to a target area in the body using magnets, and then release a drug cargo in response to the local environment.
www.medgadget.com
The emerging golden era of neuroscience - MedCity News
Bill Martin, the Global Therapeutic Area Head of Neuroscience at The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, shared some of the promising developments in the neuroscience space, such as the rise of neuro-immunology and the industry’s embrace of digital health tools to support drug dev…
medcitynews.com
// Business & Markets
Denmark’s Novo Nordisk to buy Dicerna Pharma for $3.3 billion
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk has agreed a $3.3 billion cash deal to buy Dicerna Pharmaceuticals which specializes in therapeutics that counteract disease-causing genes, it said on Thursday.
www.reuters.com
Where will Novartis spend the $21B from Roche stake sale? Alnylam buyout could be one: report
Novartis is getting a huge influx of cash from selling its 20-year stake in Roche, triggering speculation about where the Swiss pharma will spend the money. Another large acquisition could be next, with a familiar face now reportedly on the shopping list.
www.fiercepharma.com
Ro takes $30M bet on weight loss product Plenity
This comes roughly two years after Ro inked a deal with Plenity creator Gelesis.
www.mobihealthnews.com
// Legal & Regulatory
J&J Pharma Exec Reveals Playbook for Stand-Alone Drugmaker | Daily Business Review
Johnson & Johnson faces its greatest-ever overhaul as it readies for a spin-out of its consumer unit, following a path trod by rivals such as GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer.
www.law.com
Three Pharma Companies Seek to Address FDA Rejections | BioSpace
Iterum Therapeutics will head back into the clinic to meet regulatory requirements to refile a New Drug Application for oral sulopenem.
www.biospace.com
Bayer, Dr. Reddy’s end patent dispute over generic of cancer drug Nexavar
Bayer Healthcare and Amgen subsidiary Onyx Pharmaceuticals have agreed to drop their patent lawsuit against Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories over its proposed generic version of their cancer drug Nexavar.
www.reuters.com
Pfizer asks FDA to authorize COVID-19 pill
Study results released this month showed the pill, when given soon after symptoms start, sharply reduced the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization or death.
www.biopharmadive.com
FDA asks for 55 years to complete FOIA request on Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine
Hungry for details on Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine? Just file a FOIA request and wait until the U.S. tricentennial in 2076. That’s the schedule the FDA proposed in documents filed in a U.S. District Court this week.
www.fiercepharma.com
// Research & Development
A Lesson Learned From Big Pharma: Don’t Be Afraid To Go Global
The rheumatic diseases Kezar Life Sciences is attempting to treat have racial disparities across the world that create different outcomes and incidence rates of autoimmune disorders. Those considerations must come into play when thinking about trial design.
www.clinicalleader.com
Study shows immune cells against COVID-19 stay high in number six months after vaccination
A recent study by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers provides evidence that CD4+ T lymphocytes — immune system cells also known as helper T cells — produced by people who received either of the two available messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines for COVID-19 persist six months after vaccination at only slig…
www.eurekalert.org
New gene identified that contributes to progression to type 1 diabetes - California News Times
Dr. Sharad Purohit and Paul Tran, an MD / PhD student.Credits: Michael Holahan, Augusta University Scientists report that the combination of an pro-inflammatory pair of receptors called CCR2 and its ligand, CCL-2, increases the risk of developing type 1 diabetes. In this autoimmune disorder, which u…
californianewstimes.com
Researchers discover new insights about tau proteins in people living with ALS
Investigators found elevated levels of tau and a phosphorylated form of the tau protein in brain tissue from deceased people who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and carried a mutation in the C9orf72 gene. The team also identified new genetic mutations in the tau gene that may exacerbate ALS…
www.sciencedaily.com
// Politics
Biden’s Medicare drug price negotiations will leave pharma mostly unscathed: CBO
The pharma industry should emerge mostly unscathed if President Joseph Biden’s Build Back Better bill makes its way into law. While the legislation would open the door to limited Medicare negotiations and cap price hikes at the rate of inflation, the cost to the industry and its pace of innovation w…
www.fiercepharma.com
Inflation Fears, Pharma Interests Could Alter Drug Pricing Measures
Read about the biggest pharmaceutical developments and pricing stories from the past week in KHN’s Prescription Drug Watch roundup.
khn.org
The Build Back Better bill wants to lower prescription drug costs. Does it go far enough?
Even while President Joe Biden is promoting the new infrastructure package, he and Democrats are trying to lock down a vote on a social spending and climate bill — The Build Back Better Act. Part of that bill is aimed at lowering prescription drug prices for older Americans. Amna Nawaz takes a look…
www.pbs.org