A claim that RT002's duration of efficacy surpasses the leading neurotoxin – Allergan's blockbuster Botox – will be put to the test when Revance seeks US FDA approval to treat frown lines in the first half of this year. The company's Botox biosimilar with Mylan also could move forward in 2019.

Modus Therapeutics has begun a Phase I study with subcutaneously administered sevuparin. Its CEO says this new formulation of its lead asset has the potential to be self-administered by sickle cell disease patients at home for the treatment of vaso-occlusive crises.

Indian industry veteran and secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, Dilip Shah, has died aged 77. Shah, a former commercial director of Pfizer in India, played a pivotal role in ensuring that the Indian generic industry's voice was heard.

Emerging Company Profile: With a Phase I clinical trial starting in Q3 and Series A funding to raise, HOX Therapeutics is taking a step out of the shadows of academia to develop its novel drug candidates in brain and prostate cancer. CEO Karl Keegan spoke to Scrip about what is next for the UK company.

Sanofi's annual report on its drug price increases echoed a theme heard during recent 2018 earnings calls, with list price hikes offset by rebates resulting in a net price decline.

Once suspended due to safety issues, bardoxolone now has completed a Phase II study that showed kidney function benefit in four rare types of CKD. A pivotal study is underway, with another planned and more possible.

Recently battered by clinical setbacks, Immune Design has a co-development partnership with Merck around Keytruda and Merck’s Perlmutter is a former board member. Merck would pay roughly $300m to acquire the company and its immune system-boosting technologies.

Deals among domestic Chinese biotechs are growing fast, reflecting a need to huddle up amid tightening scrutiny over biotech deal-making and an unusually competitive immuno-oncology market.

Building on a leading position in anti-infectives research, Evotec aims to develop a new class of antibacterials based on cystobactamids, which are found in slime bacteria and have potent activity against serious bacterial pathogens.

When buying Loxo, Lilly highlighted the importance of LOXO-292, a first-in-class oral RET inhibitor, rather than the already-approved Vitrakvi, perhaps knowing that partner Bayer was going to be exercising an option to take full control of the TRK inhibitor.

BioMarin’s focus on rare diseases and gene therapies and expected financial growth make it a logical acquisition target for almost any large pharma, though Biogen, Amgen and Regeneron also offer a beneficial fit for many.

News of 5AM's two latest venture funds follows the launch of Longevity Vision Fund as well as LA BioMed's and RUNLABS’ announcements that they will open new incubators in 2019. Also, Passage Bio launches with $115.5m, but the largest recent VC deal was HaiHe's $146.6m financing.

GSK’s first chief digital and technology officer shares with Scrip her views on things digital that could potentially transform the pharmaceutical business, the ex-Walmart executive noting how digital touch points with physicians are improving “in every single geography and every single product.”

When buying Loxo, Lilly highlighted the importance of LOXO-292, a first-in-class oral RET inhibitor, rather than the already-approved Vitrakvi, perhaps knowing that partner Bayer was going to be exercising an option to take full control of the TRK inhibitor.

Around 800 physicians have prescribed Sun’s Ilumya, giving it some early traction in the competitive US psoriasis market. The Indian firm is striving to push harder and will also take a call on pursuing additional indications for the product.

Sanofi's annual report on its drug price increases echoed a theme heard during recent 2018 earnings calls, with list price hikes offset by rebates resulting in a net price decline.

In the latest round of what appears to have been a bruising set of price negotiations for Roche, the UK’s cost effectiveness agency NICE has recommended Perjeta in another breast cancer setting.

Following anticancer drugs, rare disease treatments become the latest products in China’s to get value added tax reductions. Orphan drug makers can breath easier, but much more is needed, industry insiders say.

The recent failure of the CREAD studies to show a therapeutic effect for crenezumab in Alzheimer’s disease stunned developers. However, an ongoing clinical study of the MAb, and a series of other innovations being explored at Switzerland’s AC Immune, might still provide answers to this intractable condition.

With four new entrants readying to be prescribed in the next four years, the market for diabetic nephropathy is looking more buoyant than ever. However, competition from GLP-1 agonists and eventually from generics could put a dampener on proceedings.

Competing combination therapies may soon be battling for attention as first-line therapies for advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma, with Merck & Co being the latest big pharma to release more data on the Keytruda/Inlyta combo in the setting.