// Biotech and Pharma Therapeutics
DeepIntent Survey Reveals That Pharmaceutical Advertising Motivates Patients to Research Treatment and Medication Options
November 1, 2021 / Pharma Advertising / U.S. Patient / DeepIntent
Building on research conducted earlier this year, DeepIntent surveyed 1,244 U.S. patients in August 2021 and found that pharmaceutical ads can empower patients to take a more active role in researching treatments. In addition, advertising influences patients’ decision to follow through in taking drugs prescribed by their doctors. After seeing a pharmaceutical ad, patients’ most common action is conducting research, which they state as the most common factor influencing their medication adherence behavior.
Teva Pharmaceuticals plans $5 billion sustainability-linked bond tied to climate and access to medicine targets
November 3, 2021 / Teva Pharma / Sustainability
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. TEVA, -0.80% said Wednesday it is planning to execute a $5 billion sustainability-linked bond that will be tied to climate and access to medicine targets. The Israeli generics company said the bond is the biggest of its kind from any sector and first issued by a generics company. The bond will be tied to a 25% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and a 150% increase in access to essential medicines for patients in low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2025.
Britain approves Merck’s COVID-19 pill in world first
November 4, 2021 / Britain / Merck / Covid-19 / Antiviral Pill
Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recommended the drug, molnupiravir, for use in people with mild to moderate COVID-19 and at least one risk factor for developing severe illness, such as obesity, older age diabetes, and heart disease.
Mark Cuban’s Naïve Plan to Curb Drug Costs With “Humane Capitalism”
November 2, 2021 / Mark Cuban / Healthcare
He plans to launch a new pharmaceutical benefit management company, or PBM, and to do so with all of the attendant “disruption” to which the modern mogul must make a burnt offering. This isn’t the first time the celebrity oligarch has waded into the health care space. Last year, he co-created the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company in order to enter the market for generic pharmaceuticals.
With two new insurance partnerships, EQRx takes its first steps toward lowering drug prices. But how big are those steps?
November 2, 2021 / Drug Prices / EQRx / Insurance
EQRx — the buzzy biotech company with a lofty mission of making far less expensive look-alike versions of blockbuster drugs — is finally starting to sign deals with insurance companies, a key step toward launching drugs that could shake up the market for medicines.
// 4th Industrial Revolution
CRISPR-Cas Can Help Reduce Climate Change
November 1, 2021 / CRISPR-Cas / Climate Change
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 applied in human therapeutics and diagnostics; its potential to play a significant role in reducing the impact of climate change is now being recognized.
Vertex taps Mammoth Bio for CRISPR work
October 30, 2021 / Vertex / Mammoth Bio / CRISPR
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 Cas enzymes, whose small size could make delivery into the body easier.
Google Parent Plans to Use AI Prowess to Invent Medicines
November 4, 2021 / Alphabet / Isomorphic Labs / AI / Drug Discovery
Alphabet Inc. said it has created a new company, called Isomorphic Labs, to use artificial intelligence for drug discovery.
Pharma startup Quris aims to use a ‘patient on a chip’ to target drug delivery
November 1, 2021 / Google / DeepMind2 / Alphabet / Isomorphic Labs
Alphabet (the umbrella corp that owns Google and DeepMind) just launched Isomorphic Labs (IL). According to the new company’s blog, it’s “reimagining the entire drug discovery process from first principles with an AI-first approach.” In other words: The CEO of DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, is going to run a drug-discovery spinoff.
MyRx.io launches to offer prescription management, price transparency
November 5, 2021 / MyRx.io / Prescription Management / Drug Price / Mobile
Health tech company Prescryptive Health has launched MyRx.io, a mobile platform that allows users to access pharmacy services like finding prescription benefit information, drug shopping and making appointments for vaccines or other pharmacy-provided care.
// Business & Markets
Boston-based pharmaceutical company raises $300M to develop cardiovascular treatments
October 29, 2021 / Cardurion Pharma / Cardiovascular / Healthcare
The funding is expected to go toward pushing forward with the development of new cardiovascular therapies, bring in additional employees and expand the company as necessary. Cardurion is currently working on a PDE9 inhibitor for treating heart failure and a CaMKII inhibitor designed to treat several cardiovascular conditions.
3D Systems Pursuing Breakthrough Advances in Bioprinting, Acquires Volumetric
November 1, 2021 / 3D Systems / Bioprinting / Volumetric
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). The pioneering 3D printing business has been infusing resources into its regenerative medicine efforts to accelerate breakthrough applications in bioprinting for lung replacement. Even though experts have issued caution against keeping hopes too high, especially since the technology to 3D-print functional organs ready for transplant is decades away, 3D Systems has a positive outlook and a plan.
Novartis to sell long-held stake in Roche for nearly $21B
November 4, 2021 / Novartis / Roche / Merger
At the time, the investment created considerable buzz. Novartis and Roche were natural rivals, each running some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical businesses from headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. That Novartis would pour billions of dollars into Roche hinted, to some, the possibility of a future merger between the giants.
Two VCs Raise Over $1 Billion for New Health Care Innovation
November 5, 2021 / New Healthcare / Innovation / Life Sciences
Mission BioCapital, a leading VC firm whose investments include Zymergen, Caribou Biosciences and Mammoth BioSciences, is planning to “enable” a lot more “awesome” after closing $275 million in funding.
Bristol Myers Squibb-backed Clade nabs a meaty $87M series A for cell therapy 2.0
November 3, 2021 / Cell Therapy / T-cell Therapy Venture Capital / Allogene
One biotech among a growing pack is the newly uncloaked Clade Therapeutics, which has brought in an impressive $87 million initial funding round led by Syncona with help from LifeSci Venture Partners, Emerson Collective and Bristol Myers Squibb.
// Legal & Regulatory
Ardelyx Prepares for Battle with FDA Over Rejected CKD Drug
November 5, 2021 / Ardelyx / FDA / CKD Drug / Drug Approval
Ardelyx, Inc. is lacing up the gloves and preparing to wade into the ring with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to dispute the July rejection of its chronic kidney disease drug, tenapanor.
UnitedHealth, Change meet requirements for DOJ investigation, agree not to merge before February
November 3, 2021 / UnitedHealth / DOJ / Change Healthcare
In a Wednesday filing, Change Healthcare disclosed the companies had “certified substantial compliance” with a request for additional information by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) antitrust division. The companies agreed not to close the deal until Feb. 22, 2022, unless the DOJ closes its investigation before then.
What Red Flags? Elizabeth Holmes Trial Exposes Investors’ Carelessness
November 4, 2021 / Elizabeth Holmes / Investors / Theranos / Trial
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.
Opioid Makers Win Major Victory in California Trial
November 2, 2021 / Opioids / California / Trial / Drug Manufacturers
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.
Federal judge rules HHS’ efforts to punish pharma over 340B restrictions ‘arbitrary and capricious’
November 1, 2021 / 340B Drug Discount Program / Drug Prices / Lawsuits / 340B Health
U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker ruled that a December advisory opinion from HHS’ Office of the General Counsel and a May enforcement letter from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) were “arbitrary and capricious” and in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.
// Research & Development
Parkinson’s gene therapy restores responses to dopamine-boosting drug in mouse models
November 5, 2021 / Cell & Gene Therapy / Gene Therapy / Mouse Models / Neurological Disorders
Levodopa, the commonly prescribed dopamine-restoring drug for Parkinson’s disease, loses its effectiveness over time. Researchers at Northwestern University say they’ve found a potential method for reviving the drug’s benefits: gene therapy.
Cell therapy biotech PlateletBio reels in $75M as it looks ahead to first clinical test
November 4, 2021 / Cell Therapy / PlateletBio / Clinical Tests / Sanofi / Blood Clot
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.
ALS drugmaker steps up with FDA filing, but yet another biotech stumbles in clinic
November 2, 2021 / ALS / Drugmaker / FDA / Amylyx
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 subgroup of patients.
Janssen on driving R&D innovation with data science
November 4, 2021 / Janssen / R&D / Data Science
The amount of patient data has skyrocketed, providing opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of diseases that are particularly complex or areas with a high level of unmet need, according to Janssen’s Najat Khan.
MIT team uncovers differences in T cells that drive immuno-oncology resistance in lung cancer
November 1, 2021 / Checkpoint Inhibitors / Immuno-oncology / Immunotherapy / Interleukin-2
Several drugs that block the immune checkpoints PD-1 and PD-L1 have been approved to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but their efficacy in the disease is estimated to be well under 50%. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say they’ve uncovered a mechanism of resistance to immuno-oncology drugs in NSCLC patients—and a potential avenue for addressing it.
// Politics
Pharmaceutical industry likely to shatter its lobbying record as it works to shape Democrats’ spending bill
November 5, 2021 / Pharma / Spending bill
A years-long battle over prescription drug prices reaches its apex as the industry spends tens of millions to alter the plans.
Congressional Republicans Propose to Abolish America Invents Act (and a Bit More)
November 11, 2021 / Republicans / Invents Act
It being the holiday season in America, it is perhaps appropriate that patent traditionalists get something more than coal in their stocking from Representatives Massie (R-KY), Gohmert (R-TX), Gosar (R-AZ), and McClintock (R-CA) in the form of H.R. 5874, the “Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act of 2021.”
Pharmaceutical industry may avoid big losses in drug pricing deal
November 3, 2021 / Drug Pricing / Pharma / Drug Pricing Deal
The details matter. And the details as they stand suggest drug companies would still retain the power to set prices, and most drugs wouldn’t be subject to government price negotiations.
Here’s who wins and loses in Democrats’ new prescription drug pricing deal
November 2, 2021 / Drug Pricing Deal / Congress / Democrats / Medicare
Under the deal, Medicare would be allowed to negotiate drug prices for both drugs dispensed at the pharmacy counter and those administered in doctors’ offices for drugs older than 9 years or 12 years, depending on the type of drug. Drug makers would have to pay penalties if they hike prices faster than inflation, including for employer-sponsored insurance plans. Seniors’ out-of-pocket costs would be capped at $2,000 per year. Insulin prices per dose will also be capped.
Dems’ $100B deal reduced further: Medicare drug price negotiations pushed to 13 years for biologics
November 5, 2021 / Medicare / Drug PRice / Biden / Build Back Better
Overall, the compromise ended up winning over both Democrat senators receiving PhRMA cash, like Kyrsten Sinema and Bob Menendez, and more liberal senators, like Elizabeth Warren. But on the House side, the battle continued up until yesterday evening.