Industry news

Ferring strikes pact to use Foresee controlled-release tech

Nick Paul Taylor / FierceBiotech

Ferring Pharmaceuticals has struck a deal with Foresee Pharmaceuticals. The agreement will see Ferring fund development of a long-duration peptide drug based on Foresee’s delivery technology and potentially pick up the resulting asset if it meets expectations.

Diabetes drugs pop on January's TV ad spending list, but AbbVie's Humira stays at the top

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharmaMarketing

Diabetes drugs kicked off TV ad spending strong in 2017. Eli Lilly’s Trulicity led the category at No. 4 on the top 10 list of pharma national TV ad spenders for January, according to iSpot.tv, but AstraZeneca’s Farxiga and Johnson & Johnson’s Invokana followed close behind at Nos. 6 and 7. Just missing the top 10 was Merck’s Januvia at No. 12 with spending of $9.5 million for the month, according to the real-time TV ad tracker's data.

U.S. med tech sector lost 28,000+ jobs under med device tax: AdvaMed

Amirah Al Idrus / Fierce Medical Device

When the medical device excise tax was in effect, the med tech industry lost nearly 29,000, or 7.2%, of its jobs, according to an AdvaMed analysis of Department of Commerce figures. The drop occurred between 2012, the year before the tax was enacted, and 2015, when it was suspended in a tax and spending bill.

New bacteria for next gen antibiotics developed in Russia

Marchmont Innovation News

Microbiologists at the Moscow Lomonosov State University (MSU)’s department of biology have used cell engineering techniques to  develop a new strain  of lactic acid bacteria capable of generating antibiotics with a wide range of applicability. The project has been  described in detail  in English in Journal of Hygienic Engineering and Design. 

Russian company develops advanced thrombosis therapy

Marchmont Innovation News

FK Laboratories, a domestic biotech developer, is working on its novel drug candidate to prevent and treat thromboses, a serious health condition for millions of people. 

Best Practices for Communication Between FDA and IND Sponsors During Drug Development

Cartier Esham / Biotech Now

The FDA recently released an online course to provide insights to drug sponsors on communicating with the FDA during drug development.  The hour-long course, Best Practices for Communication Between FDA and IND Sponsors During Drug Development, is designed to describe the best practices and procedures for timely, transparent, and effective communications between IND sponsors and FDA at critical junctures in drug development.

Curing Cancer: Advancements and What is Yet to Come

Stacey Matusko / BioTech Now

Last month, MIT Technology Review reported “Two Infants Treated with Universal Immune Cells Have Their Cancer Vanish.” UK doctors treated the babies with genetically engineered T-cells from another person, known as CAR-T, as recounted in Science Translational Medicine.

09 February 2017

Syndax Appoints Richard P. Shea as Chief Financial Officer

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNDX), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing entinostat and SNDX-6352 in multiple cancer indications, today announced that Richard P. Shea is stepping down from his position on the Syndax Board of Directors and is joining the Company as Chief Financial Officer.

With Facebook pushing long-form video, should pharma jump in?

Beth Snyder Bulik / FiercePharmaMarketing

When Facebook talks, people—and brands—usually listen. In this case, the world’s largest social media platform has signaled a preference for long-form video with the announcement that it will weigh longer-form video completion more heavily when serving videos in news feeds.

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub invests $50 million in its first 47 research initiatives

Sarah Buhr / TecgCrunch

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a non-profit medical research organization started by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg (and not to be confused with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a limited liability corporation to advance human potential) today announced it would be doling out a total of $50 million to its first cohort of disease investigators.