Industry news

17 October 2017

Syndax Announces $25 Million Registered Direct Offering of Common Stock

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Syndax," the "Company" or "we") (Nasdaq: SNDX), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing entinostat and SNDX-6352 in multiple cancer indications, today announced that it has agreed to sell 2,021,018 shares of its common stock to Biotechnology Value Fund, L.P. and certain of its affiliates ("BVF") in a registered direct offering.  

17 October 2017

Syndax Expands Pipeline with Exclusive Worldwide License to Allergan's Portfolio of Menin-MLL Inhibitors

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Syndax," the "Company" or "we") (Nasdaq: SNDX), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing entinostat and SNDX-6352 in multiple cancer indications, today announced that it has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with Vitae Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a subsidiary of Allergan plc, for a portfolio of preclinical, orally-available small molecule inhibitors of the interaction of Menin with the Mixed Lineage Leukemia ("MLL") protein. These compounds have potential application in the treatment of a genetically-defined subset of acute leukemias with chromosomal rearrangements in the MLL gene ("MLL-r"). Syndax expects to initiate clinical studies in 2019.

17 October 2017

Neothetics, Inc. and Evofem Biosciences, Inc. Announce Merger Agreement to Create Women’s Health Company

Neothetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: NEOT) and Evofem Biosciences, Inc. today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which privately-held Evofem Biosciences will merge with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Neothetics in an all-stock transaction. The merger will position the combined company with an opportunity to become a leading women’s health company that develops and commercializes novel products. Upon closing of the transaction, Neothetics will be renamed Evofem Biosciences, Inc., and will be under the leadership of Evofem Biosciences’ Chief Executive Officer, Saundra Pelletier.

A land plot was allocated for pharmaceutical complex construction near Moscow

GMP News

The Ministry of Property Relations of the Moscow Region supported the order “On Leasing Without a Tender a Land Plot Held in the State Unrestricted Ownership to Soyuzsnab-Zdorovye Limited Liability Company” issued by the Governor of the Moscow Region A.Yu. Vorobyov.

Russian government to simplify launch of new drugs

Remedium

The Russian government has prepared a bill simplifying the introduction of new drugs into the domestic pharmaceutical market, a spokesman of state press-service has said recently, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

Russia viewed as one of the fastest growing pharma markets

Remedium

Russia’s pharmaceutical market is one of the fastest growing in the world and is expected to reach $36.61 billion by 2021, says a leading business information and analytics provider.

13 October 2017

Liquid Biopsy Test Identifies Androgen Receptor Protein Expression in Circulating Tumor Cells in Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer

Epic Sciences along with researchers at the MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDA) have recently published their findings on androgen receptor (AR) protein expression in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with metastatic breast cancer in PLOS One.  The publication, the most comprehensive today in characterizing the AR protein in CTCs of patients with breast cancer, identifies subclonal heterogeneity of AR protein.  

Russia defines objectives for control over circulation of biomed cell products

GMP News

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a Decree defining the objectives for state control over the circulation of biomedical cell products, including prevention, detection, and suppression of violations of laws governing the circulation of biomedical cell products.

Belarus exports to Russia up to 70% of its pharmaceutical products

GMP News

Two-thirds of exported Belarusian drugs are shipped to Russia, said the Minister of Health of Belarus Valery Malashko to reporters before the meeting of the joint collegium of Russian and Belarusian Ministries of Health on the issues of oncology, reported BelTA.

Faster, pricier and often worthless: Study slams regulators for wave of questionable cancer drug OKs

John Carroll / Endpoint News

The explosion of new cancer drugs that’s occurred over the past decade includes some major standouts that include therapies that have registered some jaw-dropping results in clinical trials. But when researchers at King’s College London and the London School of Economics took a step back and examined 68 cancer indications approved in Europe over a 5-year period through 2013, they found that many were OK’d on only flimsy data derived from unreliable trial designs and at least 10 of these OKs have never proved to have any real value for patients.