Stroke Association Warns Over 47,000 Stroke Patients in England Could Lose Out on Life-Changing Treatment
A report by the Stroke Association notes that only 28% of eligible stroke patients in England received mechanical thrombectomy, a technique that can save lives and greatly reduce the disability caused by stroke. This number falls far short of NHS England’s goal of performing the procedure on all possible patients. During the operation, a blood clot is physically removed from cerebral blood vessels via a specialized catheter, avoiding some of the risks of the only other stroke treatment, tissue plasminogen activator.
Twelve European Countries Getting Influenza Pandemic Prep from GSK
GSK has signed an agreement with the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) to help prepare 12 European countries for future influenza pandemics. The agreement is another win for the pharma giant, which signed similar deals with the US, Canada, and the World Health Organization. The total amount of pandemic influenza vaccines promised in the deals reaches 200 million.
ISPOR Task Force Indicates Five Areas Machine Learning Could Support Health Economics and Outcomes Research
Earlier this month, ISPOR released a report in the journal Value in Health detailing good practices in using machine learning for health economics and outcomes research (HEOR). According to the lead authors, machine learning can enable deep analysis of complex datasets, identifying trends that may otherwise go unnoticed. To enable the best possible use of the technology in HEOR, they identified these key areas that could benefit the field.
Takeda Partner BridGene Biosciences Brings in $38.5 Million Series B
The small biotech Bridgene Biosciences has scored another funding win, this time to the tune of $38.5 million in a Series B. Last year, the company netted $12 million in a Series A and secured a partnership with Takeda that could amount to half a billion dollars. BridGene intends to use the money to develop it’s IMTAC platform, a small molecule screening tool for oncology research.
Teva Settles Opioid Lawsuits for $4.25 Billion
Teva has reached a settlement that could end the thousands of lawsuits filed against the company for its contributions to the opioid crisis in the US. The nationwide settlement will amount to a whopping $4.25 billion, with funds going to local and state governments. A $1.2 billion chunk of the settlement would be in the form of generic Narcan, which quickly reverses opioid overdoses. Another $100 million would go to Native American nations.
US Department of Justice Opens Investigation into Cassava Alzheimer’s Drug Data Manipulation Controversy
Late last year, reports surfaced that Cassava Sciences had falsified trial data regarding its experimental drug for Alzheimer’s disease. Now, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched a probe into the allegations, sending the company’s share prices down by 30%. The claims originated from two doctors, represented by the law firm Labaton Sucharow, who found irregularities in data coming from Hoau-yan Wang, an Associate Medical Professor at City University of New York, and Lindsay Burns, Cassava’s VP of neurosciences.
Reuters Events: Pharma Marketing USA 2022 – November 8-9 – Philadelphia, US
This November, Reuters Events is hosting Pharma Marketing USA 2022 in Philadelphia, PA. The event, taking place November 8th-9th, will bring together professionals from pharma marketing, data, commercial, IT, analytics and more. Speakers will come from industry leaders like Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK, Astrazeneca, Teva, Takeda, Zimmer Biomet, and Alnylam. Register by Friday, July 29th with the code “FLASH200” to save $200.
Biogen Gets Priority Review from FDA for ALS Drug
Biogen has another chance at approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) drug [...]
Webinar: Planning for the Pivot to Commercialization – August 25th
Achieving commercial success in cell and gene therapy requires careful planning from the early stages of preclinical development. On August [...]
Martin Shkreli Looks to Return to Biopharma with Blockchain Drug Discovery Platform
Just months after his release from prison, Martin Shkreli seeks to re-enter the biopharma industry with a drug discovery platform backed by a new cryptocurrency. The platform, called Druglike, would allow users to donate processing power for early-stage drug development computations in exchange for Shkreli’s new cryptocurrency. This move comes despite being banned from the drug industry for life due to his securities fraud conviction.
Texan Advocates Challenge Obamacare in Court Over STI and HIV Treatment Coverage
A group of far-right advocates is taking another shot at the Affordable Care Act (ACA), this time over preventative care mandates. The group, comprised of Texas residents and former Trump officials, claims that covering life-saving sexually transmitted infection (STI) and HIV preventative care violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it encourages “homosexual behavior,” sex work, safe sex, and harm reduction for those with substance disorders.
US Court Rejects Novartis’s Appeal in Whistleblower Case
New Jersey’s Superior Court, Appellate Division, has rejected Novartis’s appeal of a 2019 verdict in a case against a former executive turned whistleblower. Min Amy Guo, then executive director of the company’s health economics and outcomes research team, was fired in 2013 after expressing concerns that a cancer drug study would violate laws preventing kickbacks. She filed suit the following year and five years later a New Jersey court ruled Novartis was guilty of retaliation and must pay Guo $1.8 million in damages.
Acitor Biotech’s Stroke Treatment Gets PRIME Status from EMA
Image from Freestock Stroke is a leading killer worldwide that has few effective treatment options. Acitor Biotech’s experimental [...]
GSK Shifts Focus After Haleon Spinoff
With the spinoff of its consumer healthcare operations into the new company Haleon, GSK is turning its focus onto new [...]
UK Life Sciences Sector at Risk of Slipping Behind Rivals
Although the United Kingdom’s life sciences industry ranks third among industrialized nations in terms of spending, a recently released report shows that the nation is lagging behind on other important measures. For example, trial setup in the UK takes longer than the approval process, putting the nation behind other European countries like Germany and Switzerland in the number of therapeutics approved.
UK CMA Fines Pfizer and Flynn Pharma £70M in Epilepsy Drug Pricing Case
The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued a preliminary judgment fining Pfizer and Flynn Pharma £70 million for abusing their status as the UK’s only suppliers of the epilepsy drug phenytoin. Pfizer and Flynn jacked up the prices of the life-saving drug between 780% and 2,600%, a move deemed by the courts as anti-competitive and exploitative. Pfizer will pay £63 million and Flynn will pay £6.7 million.
America’s Early-Death Rate was an Outlier Pre-Pandemic
The US has hit been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing the worst outbreak of all wealthy industrialized nations. This has resulted in a dramatic spike in early deaths. Unfortunately, this is only the exacerbation of a pre-existing trend. Researchers using a data from the CDC and an international mortality database found that the US began falling behind Japan and 16 nations in western Europe as early as the 1980’s, with over 600,000 early deaths in 2019 alone.
EU Committee Supports New Roche and Eli Lilly Meds as Clovis’ Ovarian Cancer Drug is Rejected
The European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has given the nod to Eli Lilly for its type 2 diabetes drug Mounjaro and Roche’s macular degeneration drug Vabysmo. Clovis’ Rubraca, a third-line treatment for ovarian cancer, was not reccomended by the committee based on the manufacturer’s request. The drugmaker had already voluntarily pulled the drug in the US due to data linking the drug to increased mortality risk.
Gilead Invests in Health Equity Initiative
Gilead Sciences has invested $85 million in its Gilead Foundation with the goal of advancing health equity. The Foundation will focus on bridging gaps in education equality in marginalized teenagers, as educational outcomes are strongly tied to health outcomes. The company will also match employee donations towards the effort.
ISPOR Value in Health Regional: Cost of Multiple Sclerosis in Iran
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic illness characterized by an autoimmune attack on the central nervous system that is associated [...]
Medicines for Europe: Improving Europe’s Health Systems with Off-Patent Medicines
Strengthening European health systems by promoting the use of off-patent medicines was the topic of several speakers during a presentation the recent Medicines for Europe Conference, held in Sitges, Barcelona, Spain from June 29th to July 1st. The speakers noted that 70% of the drugs dispensed throughout the region are off-patent, and that policies favoring these and biosimilars should be prioritized.
First Half of 2022 Sees 62 US Hospital CEO Exits
A recent report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows sixty-two CEOs of various hospital systems in the US stepped down this year. This is around 50% higher than the forty-two that left their role by this time last year. This jump exceeds the percent increase in CEO exits in all industries, which sits at 20%.
Biogen Writes Off Aduhelm Stock
Biogen has written off its remaining Aduhelm inventory in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. The company declared that its stock of the failed Alzheimer’s drug was functionally worthless, in contrast with a $233 million valuation towards the end of 2021. The remaining stock will be available to patients that are already using the drug, such as those in clinical trials.
Real World Alliance Drives RWE Innovation with Recent Additions
In April, the Real World Alliance added five members, ConcertAI, Verana Health, OM1, Verily, and Syneos Health. This addition doubled the numbers of the alliance, which was brought together to support the use of real-world evidence (RWE) in regulatory decision-making. The founding members of the Alliance look forward to working with the new members, and have made concerted efforts in the months following their joining.
Webinar – Pain R&D: Plenty of Pain to Go Around, But Who’s Making Gains?
Despite a growing need for safe, effective pain drugs, the drug development pipeline is sparsely populated. Recent setbacks like those facing Lilly and Pfizer’s anti-NGF drug have chilled the atmosphere for new lines of research. In an Endpoints webinar on August 11th, Lei Lei Wu of Endpoints will sit down with Jan Adams of Grünenthal to discuss the situation and how to improve access to patients.
