Bio/Pharma News

Genentech received accelerated approval for its immunotherapy atezolizumab for the treatment of bladder cancer.

Celgene will pay Agios $200 million to lead exploratory, research, drug discovery, and early development work for metabolic immuno-oncology.

Pfizer will acquire Anacor for $5.2 billion and expects the transaction to complete in the third-quarter of 2016.

Caribou announced the completion of a $30-million Series B financing round, which included the participation of new and current investors.

The Phase I trials will examine AX-1602’s clinical efficacy for the treatment of psoriasis and eczema.

AMRI’s acquisition of Euticals expands its API development and manufacturing business.

*Updated May 11, 2016Following JHL Biotech’s opening of a FlexFactory flexible manufacturing facility in Hsinchu, Taiwan in 2014, the company opened a second manufacturing location in Wuhan, China on May 10, 2016. According to the company, with the addition of the new Wuhan facility, JHL Biotech will now hold the largest volume of single-use cell-culture capacity in all of Asia.

Takeda received a $38 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop, license, and supply Sabin-strain inactivated poliovirus to more than 70 developing countries.

The GPhA and its Biosimilars Council expressed concern about the new proposed value-based reimbursement rules for Part B medications.

Under the terms of an agreement with Pfizer, WAVE will advance up to five programs from discovery through the selection of clinical candidates.

MilliporeSigma expands its Carlsbad, California-based GMP capacity for viral and gene-therapy products by nearly 90%.

The collaborations have the goal of creating new tools that will help predict how people with Type 2 diabetes adhere to their medication.

EMD Serono, the North American biopharmaceutical business of Germany’s Merck KGaA, will expand its R&D facility in Massachusetts, US.

The agency recommends the approval of Zavicefta to treat infections caused by resistant bacteria.

MSD joined the WHO campaign in Africa, which is focused on staying polio free.

AbbVie will acquire Stemcentrx and its lead late-stage asset rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T), a novel biomarker-specific therapy derived from cancer stem cells.

Beckman Coulter Life Science’s new Vi-Cell Metaflex is designed to be operational for more than 22 hours a day.

The Subcommittee for Advanced Manufacturing of the National Science and Technology Council highlights biopharmaceutical manufacturing as an emerging priority.

Sanofi will invest in its Geel, Belgium facility in order to support its pipeline of monoclonal antibodies.

The facility located in Ware, UK, will be used to manufacture GSK’s Ellipta inhaler.

Shire announces plans to build a flexible biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in County Meath, Ireland.

Linker technology and drug combinations play an important role in the efficacy of ADCs.

The National Institute of Health will conduct an internal review of the National Cancer Institute’s cell manufacturing facilities, which will affect multiple Kite projects.

JW Biotechnology will focus on developing novel cell-based immunotherapies.

FDA approved an update in the manufacturing of Prezista (darunavir) using a continuous manufacturing line at Janssen Supply Chain’s facility in Puerto Rico.

Sanofi says the program will vaccinate one million students from 6000 public schools in dengue-epidemic regions of the Philippines.

A report by Reuters found that four of the top 10 most widely used drugs increased 100% since 2011, while the other six increased 60%.

Inflectra is the second biosimilar to hit the market in the United States.

The companies announced that they have mutually decided to terminate the planned merger after the US Department of Treasury and the IRS issue temporary and proposed regulations on tax inversion.

The company received a positive recommendation for it’s Remicade biosimilar, Flixabi (infliximab).