Industry news

Survey: Rates of HIV in Asia could reflect 'hidden epidemic'

Matthew Driskill / FiercePharmaAsia

China now counts more than half a million people with HIV/AIDS, and a new survey suggests that caseload reflects what could be a "hidden epidemic" in the Asia Pacific region. Much of the recent increase is among adolescents.

IMS: Global Drug Spending to Increase 30% by 2020

Randi Hernandez / BioPharm International

Global spending on medications will continue to rise, and it is expected to increase by $349 billion on a constant-dollar basis by 2020—more than $150 billion more than it increased during the past five years, according to a new IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics report, Global Medicines Use in 2020: Outlook and Implications. 

03 December 2015

Clearside Biomedical, Inc. Completes $20 Million Series C Financing

Clearside Biomedical, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative first-in-class drug therapies to treat blinding diseases of the eye, today announced the closing of a $20 million Series C financing.  The financing included new investors Aju IB Investment, Cormorant Asset Management, Perceptive Advisors and Rock Springs Capital Management, along with existing Clearside investors.  Trout Capital LLC served as an advisor to Clearside.

Japan reaping the benefits from faster approval process

Matthew Driskill / FiercePharmaAsia

European drugmakers say that at least as far as they are concerned, Japan is beginning to reap the benefits from its drug regulator's faster process of reviewing and approving drug applications.

What difference does bargaining make to drug prices? In Norway, up to 58% off

Emily Wasserman / FiercePharma

For some perspective on how much more the U.S. pays for drugs than other developed countries, take a look at Norway. U.S. Medicare drug prices were higher for 93% of the top 40 branded meds available in both the U.S. and Norway during the third quarter of 2015, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, which looked at why prices are higher in the U.S. than in other developed countries.

Disgraced scientist's China venture resurrects fears of a human cloning comeback

John Carroll / FierceBiotech

Six years ago, Hwang Woo Suk's star had fallen as far as could be possible in the biopharma research world. After publishing research on stem cells he claimed were extracted from cloned human embryos, the scientist was exposed as a fraud and convicted of embezzling research funds for the work in 2009. 

For real R&D innovation, blur the lines between pharma and academia: Panel

Tracy Staton / Fierce Biotech

Collaborating with academia has been de rigueur in the pharma world for years, but it's a different game these days. Recognizing that scientists on both sides of the divide can't be distant neighbors anymore, drugmakers and academics are invading each other's personal space, even working side-by-side in the same labs. They're learning unexpected things about their counterparts. And they're coming to terms with the inherent conflict between research for curiosity's sake and research for the market.

01 December 2015

Syndax Announces Initiation Of Entinostat Clinical Program In Japan By Partner Kyowa Hakko Kirin

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing entinostat as a combination therapy in multiple cancer indications, announced today the initiation of the entinostat clinical program in Japan by its partner Kyowa Hakko Kirin, Co., Ltd. Entinostat, an oral, small molecule drug candidate that targets both cancer cells and immune regulatory cells, is being developed by Syndax as an immuno-oncology therapeutic and evaluated as a treatment for advanced hormone receptor positive (HR+) breast cancer in an ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial (designated E2112) in the United States. 

01 December 2015

Neothetics Tightens Guidance for Timing of Top-Line Pivotal Phase 3 Data

Neothetics, Inc., a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics for the aesthetic market, today tightened its guidance regarding the timing of release of top-line data for its two pivotal U.S. Phase 3 trials titled AbCONTOUR1 and AbCONTOUR2 of LIPO-202 to mid-December. LIPO-202 is the first non-invasive injectable drug candidate for reduction of central abdominal bulging due to subcutaneous fat in non-obese subjects.

01 December 2015

Epic Sciences’ Chief Scientific Officer Named Leading Global Thinker by Foreign Policy Magazine

Epic Sciences' Chief Scientific Officer Dena Marrinucci, Ph.D., was named today by Foreign Policy magazine as one of this year’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers. Marrinucci will be honored at a gala in Washington, D.C. this evening.