Cambridge-To-Cambridge: Flagship Wants To Help Build The UK’s Biotech Culture

 

Flagship Pioneering has unveiled a new collaboration with Cambridge UK, to find synergies with academics and hospitals in the scientific hotspot, and create new biotech start-ups. Scrip spoke to Flagship about its plans.

Roche’s Itovebi Scores OS Goal In Breast Cancer

 
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Just a few months after bagging US approval based on impressive progression-free survival data for its PI3K inhibitor, the Basel-headquartered giant is trumpeting a significant overall survival benefit for a drug that is expected to reinvigorate its breast cancer franchise.

Akero The First To Show Fibrosis Improvement In Cirrhotic MASH

 
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The FGF21 analog is the first metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis drug to demonstrate benefit in cirrhotic patients. Several FGF21 agents are being tested in MASH.

GSK And Oxford To Collaborate On Neoantigen Vaccines To Prevent Cancer

 

The potentially groundbreaking approach would use immunotherapy or targeted therapies against pre-cancerous cells to prevent cancer from developing at all.


Novo Nordisk Rises Again As Amycretin Achieves Rapid Weight Loss

 

The combination drug hit the 22% weight loss mark in just 36 weeks which has lifted the Danish company’s shares after a recent run of disappointing results.

AstraZeneca Sees Canada As Land Of Opportunity With $570m Investment

 
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CEO Pascal Soriot said the deal, which will create more than 700 new jobs, reflected “our strong belief in Canada’s potential as a global hub for life sciences innovation, and the value of public-private collaboration.”

Scrip Asks... What Does 2025 Hold For Biopharma? Part 4: Artificial Intelligence and Data Science

 

More than 50 executives across industry share their expectations for the impact of AI on the biopharma industry over the coming year. While target identification and drug discovery featured highly, the opportunities to engage with patients and healthcare providers more effectively and the need for suitable regulatory frameworks were also flagged up.

R&D In The IRA Era: Takeda Opts Not To Develop Zasocitinib For Lupus

 

The TYK2 inhibitor is in Phase III development for plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis but the company said it will not pursue late-stage studies in lupus, partly due to the Inflation Reduction Act.


Two Trial Wins Cement Valneva’s Lead In Chikungunya

 
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As rival Bavarian Nordic closes in on US approval for its chikungunya vaccine for people aged 12 and older, the French biotech has presented positive data for its already-approved jab Ixchiq in adolescents and children.

Will BioVersys Listing Wake Europe From Its IPO Slumber?

 
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The Swiss firm’s plans to go public are a boost for the antibiotics space and for hopes that the continent’s biotechs may follow their US counterparts and find financial solutions on the capital markets.

J&J Expands Ketamine Case With Spravato Monotherapy Indication

 
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On the US market since 2019 for treatment-resistant depression in tandem with oral antidepressants, J&J’s new indication allows for more flexibility.

Pipeline Watch: Six Approvals And Six Phase III Readouts

Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events and approvals announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.


Roche Accelerator Deepens Pool Of Potential Chinese Partners

 
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Roche's Shanghai-based Accelerator now includes close to 20 Chinese startups across multiple areas including novel modalities and AI-based research, fitting into the Swiss major's strategy of partnering in core areas to access innovation.

US Dato-DXd Approval Relief For AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo

 

The FDA green light for Datroway in breast cancer marks the first for a TROP2-directed antibody-drug conjugate and is a relief for partners AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo after multiple filing mis-steps in its lung cancer indication.

Under-Pressure Moderna Banks $590m To Speed Up Bird Flu Vaccine

 
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A week after a downbeat forecast at J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, the US mRNA specialist has pocketed another sizeable sum from the US Department of Health and Human Services to accelerate development of an H5N1 mRNA pandemic influenza vaccine.

High-Dose Semaglutide Data A Mixed Bag For Novo Nordisk

 
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Semaglutide 7.2mg bests placebo for weight loss at 72 weeks, but with efficacy lower than seen with Novo Nordisk’s CagriSema or Lilly’s Zepbound.


Boehringer’s Three Shots At Schizophrenia Miss The Target

 

Three parallel Phase III studies of iclepertin aiming to improve cognitive function have failed but optimism about other schizophrenia treatments is growing.

Acepodia Plays Dual-Payload Ace To Join Global ADC Race

 

Acepodia’s dual-payload antibody-drug conjugates can link multiple tumor-killing agents without antibody modification. Apart from a GPC3-targeting candidate, the Taiwan-US biotech is also working on a bispecific antibody ADC with two different payloads, its CEO tells Scrip in an interview.

Avidity Set To File First Of Three Muscular Dystrophy Drugs In 2025

 

The company is moving quickly to bring its antibody oligonucleotide conjugates to patients in three separate muscular dystrophy diseases, causing unease for its rivals.

Scholar Rock Does Its Homework For Successful SMA Launch

 
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On the back of a stellar showing in Phase III, apitegromab is going to be filed in the US and Europe in the coming weeks for spinal muscular atrophy and CEO Jay Backstrom believes it will be a $2bn blockbuster.