Industry news

Pricing furor aside, drug spending growth slowed last year—but still hit $323B

Eric Sagonowsky / FiercePharma

Despite what you may have heard about drug pricing and expenses getting out of hand, net spending growth actually fell in the U.S. last year. After discounts, pharmaceutical spending increased 4.8% in 2016, down from 8.9% growth recorded in 2015

08 May 2017

Syndax Pharmaceuticals Reports First Quarter 2017 Financial Results and Provides Clinical and Business Update

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 reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017. In addition, the Company provided a clinical and business update. As of March 31, 2017, Syndax had $92.8 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments.

08 May 2017

Epic Sciences and collaborators publish study on new blood test showing expression of PD-L1 on circulating cells is associated with worse outcomes in lung cancer patients not treated with PD-1 inhibitors

Investigators from Yale, USC, UC San Diego, and Epic Sciences published findings in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, showing that the presence of PD-L1 protein on circulating cells from newly diagnosed lung cancer patients is prognostic of poor survival when patients are treated with standard of care therapeutics not including PD-1 inhibitors.

How drugmakers face global push-back on high prices

BBen Hirschler / Reuteras

Pharmaceutical companies are under fire around the world as a wave of new treatments for cancer and other serious conditions reach the market at ever rising prices, and the pressure looks set to increase.

Pharma, stop trying to sell drugs like they're cars or shoes, agency vet urges

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharmaMarketing

Most people would agree that Oreos and arthritis meds probably shouldn’t be sold the same way. However, according to branding consultant Vince Parry, many pharma companies are doing just that by using consumer branding strategies to sell drugs. That’s a mistake, says the 30-year pharma ad agency vet.

B is for biotech: Alphabet, and its search for life science glory

Ben Adams / Fierce Biotech

While you’re searching for, statistically speaking, cat videos, Alphabet’s venture arm GV is searching for life sciences companies that are working on new ways to help people live longer.

HIV market will increase to $22.5 billion by 2025

GMP News

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) market across the nine major countries of the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Japan, Brazil, and China, is set to grow from $16.3 billion in 2015 to $22.5 billion by 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of just over 3%, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.

EAEU approves the drafts for eleven monographs of its Pharmacopoeia

GMP News

The drafts of eleven general pharmacopoeia monographs of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Pharmacopoeia, the main set of requirements for the quality of drugs, were approved by the Pharmacopoeia Committee of the Union at a meeting held in the Eurasian Economic Commission on April 27.

EMA Stresses Importance of Immunization

BioPharm International

April 24–30, 2017 is European Immunization Week in Europe, and in a statement on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) website dated April 25, 2017, Executive Director Guido Rasi stressed the importance of vaccinations in preventing and controlling disease. Rasi acknowledged that fear created from incorrect information presented by unreliable sources has created a lack of trust in vaccines. But he highlighted that Europe monitors and records information on the safety of medicines, including vaccines.

Insight into how cells withstand DNA attacks could boost cancer research and more

Arlene Weintraub / FierceBiotech

Every cell in the body has its own power source in the form of mitochondria, and those energy producers have their own DNA. When that mitochondrial DNA breaks down, cells deploy enzymes to make repairs that will keep the energy flowing. Scientists led by the University of Sheffield have identified one of the enzymes that’s crucial to repairing damaged mitochondrial DNA—a finding they believe will enhance the search for effective cancer drugs and treatments for other diseases