Georgia

Russia and Ukraine had been key players in the pharma markets of Central Asian and surrounding countries before the launch of the Russian invasion into its neighbor on 24 February. Because of this, both countries are poised to give ground in this growing regional market.

The first of around 260 patients for a clinical trial comparing its PB006 natalizumab biosimilar candidate to Biogen’s Tysabri reference brand have been recruited by Polpharma Biologics, which has just added Karsten Roth and Alexandra Moulson to its team.

Stada will pay $660m for a basket of 20 brands from Takeda to expand its consumer health portfolio in Russia and a number of strategically important CIS markets.

Reporting double-digit growth in the first half of 2019, Krka says it has mined marketing opportunities in new eastern European markets by introducing its established treatments for cardiovascular diseases

When Scrip first wrote about Zika virus (ZIKV) less than two weeks ago there was no record of any clinical development ongoing for a treatment or vaccine against the mosquito-transmitted disease, let alone any available therapies.

With the theft of American companies' trade secrets increasingly on the rise – including those belonging to biopharmaceutical firms – lawmakers last week said more needs to be done to ensure there are stronger legal protections in place to secure that commercially valuable information.

While Bristol-Myers Squibb & Co.'s programmed death-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab) is well ahead of Merck & Co.'s competing drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in FDA approved indications, it's the latter drug that's likely going to stick in the minds of the American public – at least for the time being.

Asterias BioTherapeutics, Inc. has appointed Georgia Erbez chief financial officer (CFO) – effective Nov. 9. Erbez has served as financial consultant to various biotech companies and most recently was CFO, secretary, and treasurer of Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. Prior to this, she was managing director, healthcare investment banking at Collins Stewart, a senior level investment banker at Beal Advisors, Jeffries & Company, Inc. and Cowen and Company

The FDA's Arthritis Advisory Committee (AAC) on Oct. 23 in a 10-4 vote recommended approval of lesinurad, an experimental drug from AstraZeneca plc and its US unit Ardea Biosciences Inc., as a treatment in combination with a xanthine oxidase inhibitor (XOI), such as allopurinol or febuxostat, for hyperuricemia associated with gout in adults.

It's no surprise the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was not eager to make public a scathing report from a panel of outside expert advisers that condemned the agency's laboratory safety practices – declaring it "is on the way to losing credibility" after a series of near-calamities involving anthrax, the H5N1 influenza virus and Ebola.