Industry news

Ferring Pharma snags a microbiome platform with Rebiotix buy

Amirah Al Idrus / FierceBiotech

Ferring Pharmaceuticals is going full speed ahead into the microbiome space with its acquisition of Rebiotix and its Microbiota Restoration Therapy platform. The lead candidate is a non-antibiotic treatment that prevents recurrent C. difficile infection delivering healthy, live, human-derived microbes to the gut. 

Russian drugs displace imports from the market

GMP News

Import substitution remains a relevant issue in the pharmaceutical market for several years. The first shifts in import substitution and expansion of innovative pharmaceutical production facilities occurred under Pharma – 2020, a state program which started as early as in 2011.

The top 15 drug patent expirations of 2018

Eric Sagonowsky / FiercePharma

Each year, dozens of branded pharmaceutical products lose their patent protections in a process that routinely paves the way for cheap generics. This year is no different, and the drugs opening up to copycat competitors represent some serious sales heft. And as usual, you'll see some household names at the top of the list of U.S. expirations.

GlobalData forecasts an increasingly widespread use of monoclonal antibodies

GMP News

According to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, the total number of clinical trials involving monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) witnessed a robust 115% growth between 2007 and 2016. Ever since the first commercial mAbs was approved in 1986 for human therapeutic purposes, mAbs have been increasingly used in several areas of healthcare.

Moscow plans to further develop offset agreement mechanism

GMP News

Offset agreements are a new effective mechanism for public procurement, in which the supplier agrees to establish or upgrade a production facility within the city, while the city authorities, in turn, agree to purchase the manufactured products. Moscow was the first subject of the Russian Federation that took advantage of such agreements.

Pfizer will jointly develop CAR T therapy possibilities with Allogene

GMP News

Pfizer and Allogene Therapeutics entered into an asset contribution agreement for Pfizer’s portfolio of assets related to allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T) therapy, an investigational immune cell therapy approach to treating cancer.

Doctors Are People Too: Communicating through Entertainment

Scott Freeman / Pharmaceutical Exacutive

Pharmaceuticals is a big business. Industry spend is predicted to reach a whopping $3.1 billion by 2020 as brands continue to battle for market dominance. On average, a third of revenue is set aside for ever-more elaborate treatment advertising, while only a twelfth is invested into R&D.

Platform tech will bring a 'major switch'—and shorter timelines—to vaccine R&D

Eric Sagonowsky / FiercePharma

Recent outbreaks such as Ebola and Zika alarmed vaccine experts, who worry that the scientific community isn't prepared for emerging diseases. That concern has sparked new funding and collaboration—and along the way, experts say, vaccine science is advancing to speed up the fight against new pathogens. 

Gene therapy could promote healing in brain, spinal cord injuries

Amirah Al Idrus / FierceBiotech

The human body responds to a spinal cord injury by making scar tissue, effectively sealing the wound but preventing the creation of new tissue. Scientists at UT Southwestern have discovered a "genetic trigger" that could be targeted to improve how the brain and spinal cord recover from injury. 

With Pfizer's tafamidis data, there's a new kid on the ATTR block

Amirah Al Idrus / FierceBiotech

Pfizer reported positive results from a phase 3 trial of tafamidis in transthyretin cardiomyopathy, a form of the rare disease transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR). The news drove down stocks for Alnylam and Ionis, both of which are developing drugs for hereditary forms of ATTR: patisiran and inotersen.