// Biotech and Pharma Therapeutics
DeepIntent Survey Reveals That Pharmaceutical Advertising Motivates Patients to Research Treatment and Medication Options
Findings reinforce the connection between ad exposure and adherence, while highlighting opportunities for marketers to influence patient health.
www.pharmexec.com
Teva Pharmaceuticals plans $5 billion sustainability-linked bond tied to climate and access to medicine targets
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. undefined said Wednesday it is planning to execute a $5 billion sustainability-linked bond that will be tied to climate...
www.marketwatch.com
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Britain approves Merck’s COVID-19 pill in world first
Britain on Thursday became the first country in the world to approve a potentially game-changing COVID-19 antiviral pill jointly developed by U.S.-based Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, in a boost to the fight against the pandemic.
www.reuters.com
// 4th Industrial Revolution
CRISPR-Cas Can Help Reduce Climate Change
By Monika Paulė, PhD Many industries and fields of science are investigating innovative technologies to mitigate the effects of climate change—effects that are already evident as an alarming collection of environmental, social, and economic problems. CRISPR-Cas gene editing has been successfully app…
www.genengnews.com
Vertex taps Mammoth Bio for CRISPR work
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is expanding its investment in CRISPR through a partnership with Mammoth Biosciences, a start-up cofounded by CRISPR gene-editing inventor Jennifer Doudna. Vertex will pay Mammoth $41 million up front and up to $650 million in future payments to use the start-up’s ultracompact…
cen.acs.org
Google Parent Plans to Use AI Prowess to Invent Medicines
Alphabet Inc. said it has created a new company, called Isomorphic Labs, to use artificial intelligence for drug discovery. The new division was spun out of DeepMind, the London research lab of Google’s parent company. DeepMind’s algorithms have made huge advances in predicting the shapes of proteins, a technology that could speed up the development of new drugs and upend the pharmaceutical industry.
www.bloomberg.com
// Business & Markets
Boston-based pharmaceutical company raises $300M to develop cardiovascular treatments
Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, a Boston-based healthcare technology founded by physician-scientists, has received an investment of up to $300 million from Bain Capital Life Sciences (BCLS) and Bain Capital Private Equity.
www.cardiovascularbusiness.com
3D Systems Pursuing Breakthrough Advances in Bioprinting, Acquires Volumetric - 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing
The benefits of regenerative medicine are too great to ignore, which is why many investors and companies are flocking to the biotech sector. One of them is 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD).
3dprint.com
Novartis to sell long-held stake in Roche for nearly $21B
Novartis, which paid around $5 billion for its shares two decades ago, says it will gain about $14 billion from its sale and use the proceeds to further its current strategy.
www.biopharmadive.com
// Legal & Regulatory
Ardelyx Prepares for Battle with FDA Over Rejected CKD Drug | BioSpace
Ardelyx, Inc. is lacing up the gloves and preparing to wade into the ring with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to dispute the July rejection of its chronic kidney disease drug, tenapanor.
www.biospace.com
UnitedHealth, Change meet requirements for DOJ investigation, agree not to merge before February - MedCity News
The companies have certified substantial compliance with a request for additional information from the Department of Justice, which opened an investigation of the merger in March. They struck an agreement with the agency not to merge until February of 2022, unless it drops its investigation before t…
medcitynews.com
What Red Flags? Elizabeth Holmes Trial Exposes Investors’ Carelessness
Start-up investors have often suspended skepticism while chasing a hot deal. The trial of Ms. Holmes, the founder of Theranos, has put that behavior under the spotlight.
www.nytimes.com
Opioid Makers Win Major Victory in California Trial
In one of the first cases to be brought against drug manufacturers over the crisis, a judge ruled that there was “simply no evidence” the companies were liable in the epidemic.
www.nytimes.com
Federal judge rules HHS’ efforts to punish pharma over 340B restrictions ‘arbitrary and capricious’
Although the court turned aside HHS efforts to penalize drugmakers restricting discounted 340B products from contract pharmacies, the judge took a shot at the the restrictions themselves and opened the door for legislators to settle the issue.
www.fiercehealthcare.com
// Research & Development
Parkinson’s gene therapy restores responses to dopamine-boosting drug in mouse models
Northwestern University researchers found that a gene therapy targeting the region of the brain that houses dopamine-releasing neurons could boost the effectiveness of the widely used Parkinson’s drug levodopa in mice. The team also found a a path to diagnosing the disease early.
www.fiercebiotech.com
Cell therapy biotech PlateletBio reels in $75M as it looks ahead to first clinical test - MedCity News
PlateletBio trails Sanofi among others in pursuit of a new therapy for a rare blood clotting disorder that has few treatments. But the biotech startup could stand apart from those drugs with its new class of cell therapy, which harnesses the properties of platelets.
medcitynews.com
ALS drugmaker steps up with FDA filing, but yet another biotech stumbles in clinic - MedCity News
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals has submitted its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) drug for FDA review based on positive Phase 2 data after discussions with the agency over the summer. Meanwhile, a Clene Nanomedicine ALS drug failed its Phase 2 study, but the biotech points to encouraging results in a sub…
medcitynews.com
Janssen on driving R&D innovation with data science -
The amount of patient data has skyrocketed, providing opportunities to gain a deeper undersanding of diseases that are particularly complex or areas with a high level of unmet need, according to Janssen’s Najat Khan
pharmaphorum.com
MIT team uncovers differences in T cells that drive immuno-oncology resistance in lung cancer
MIT scientists discovered a subset of T cells that become dysfunctional because of changes in gene expression that occur while they’re being activated in the lymph nodes. They reactivated the T cells in mouse models of non-small cell lung cancer with two cytokines, offering insights into improving r…
www.fiercebiotech.com
// Politics
Pharmaceutical industry likely to shatter its lobbying record as it works to shape Democrats’ spending bill
Years-long battle over prescription drug prices reaches apex as industry spends tens of millions to alter plan.
www.washingtonpost.com
Pharmaceutical industry may avoid big losses in drug pricing deal
Stephen Ubl, head of industry lobbying group PhRMA, said in a statement the current proposal "gives the government the power to dictate how much a medicine is worth and leaves many patients facing a future with less access to medicines and fewer new treatments."
www.axios.com
Who wins and loses in Democrats’ prescription drug pricing deal - STAT
Democrats announced a deal on prescription drug pricing reform. Here are the biggest winners and losers from what we know so far.
www.statnews.com
Dems’ $100B deal reduced further: Medicare drug price negotiations pushed to 13 years for biologics
House Democrats are on the cusp of passing two major pieces of Biden’s agenda Friday, but Medicare drug price negotiations — once the centerpiece of the Build Back Better Act’s revenue stream — has been relegated to only about $100 billion in savings over the next decade. That number fell lower
endpts.com
