AbbVie/Pharmacyclics executives Danelle James and Mohamed Zaki, in an interview at ASH, discussed Imbruvica's worth in chemo-free settings and noted additional value that could be created with shorter durations of treatment in combination regimens.

Novo Nordisk' obesity pipeline consists of projects addressing both appetite reduction and energy expenditure, with GLP-1 semaglutide topping the list, its CSO says in an interview with Scrip.

Novartis executives highlighted their stars from its refined pipeline during the company’s first R&D day since Vas Narasimhan took the helm and after a cull that reduced the firm’s development portfolio by 20%.

The UK start-up has quickly switched from research services to drug discovery to exploit more fully its novel platform technology for drug screening and development, funded by Syncona and other investors.

 

Dutch rare disease company Pharming talked to Scrip about turning a profit for the first time in the company’s history, finally restocking the pipeline in potentially blockbuster indications, and turning its attention back to Pompe disease after 20 years in the cold.

The still somewhat loosely defined concept of 'digital health' continues to take concrete forms through recent deals in Japan, where major pharma firms are building initiatives related mainly to patient well-being.

Troubled by a clinical hold for another program, Advaxis now regains all rights to ADXS-NEO, a personalized immunotherapy in Phase I for cervical and head-and-neck cancers.

OvaScience’s cash plus a $49.5m venture capital raise leave Millendo with more than enough to get two current programs to data readouts in early 2020, company says. AMAG merges with Perosphere, adding to its hematology business.

The Japanese pharmaceutical companies will work with the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership on screening targets for utility against WHO-listed priority pathogens. Avacta and LG Chem collaborate around the former’s Affimer technology.

Eli Lilly signed a licensing deal to develop a tau aggregation inhibitor small molecule for Alzheimer's disease – a drug that works differently from existing antibodies and could offer potential in combination regimens. AC Immune CEO Andrea Pfeifer talked to Scrip about the deal.

Silence will receive a small royalty on future sales of Alnylam’s Onpattro in Europe, and Alnylam is free to use Silence IP in other products.

The international biopharma industry is backing the UK life sciences sector, with UCB spearheading the charge with a £1bn commitment to R&D in the nation still in a state of flux regarding its exit from the European Union in 2019.

Glenmark’s nebulized, long-acting muscarinic antagonist for COPD has hit the Indian market. Delivered via a novel mesh nebulizer, it is seen as likely catering to a relatively small patient group.

As Sun Pharma firefights allegations of corporate governance lapses, Scrip speaks to multiple experts on how they view the governance landscape across Pharma Inc in India and also some key sticking points.

Sun Pharma, which has been hit by allegations of grave lapses in corporate governance practices, has given its side of the story, essentially emphasizing that it has done no wrong. The company, however, signaled that it is open to reviewing certain operational arrangements should that improve investor confidence.

The German company is making some dramatic changes to its structure and in terms of pharma R&D, the focus will be very much on external alliances.

Sun Pharma is consolidating its production activities in the US transferring operations out of its Cranbury site to the one in New Brunswick. Close to 100 jobs are expected to be affected.

Pharma CEOs in India took home higher remuneration in 2017-18, with experts suggesting that the upward trend isn’t entirely unexpected. The huge CEO-to-employee pay ratios – over 600 in one case – isn’t a healthy trend, though.

City of Hope hematologist/oncologist Joseph Alvarnas shares his perspectives on how CAR-T therapies are requiring new models of health care delivery and engagement with more kinds of stakeholders, during an interview at the recent ASH annual meeting.

The majority of pharmaceutical companies in the UK work closely with the NHS and In Vivo spoke to one of them – Janssen – to see how successful industry, health care providers and payers have been in breaking out of their silos and collaborating.

Pharmaceutical companies cannot afford to ignore the growing number of cross-country collaborations springing up in Europe aimed at securing more affordable medicines through actions such as jointly negotiated pricing deals. In Vivo looks at the factors that may influence the rise or fall of these collaborations and at how they may eventually make companies rethink the way they do business.

The relative absence of blockbuster M&A within medtech in 2018, compared with recent years, does not mean that consolidation of the industry – and of providers and payers – will not continue apace in 2019 and beyond. In fact, it is written – if not in the stars then possibly in digital coding – that there will be fewer and bigger entities at the top end of the ecosystem of medtech stakeholders. And rising demand will be met more and more by digital tools and functionalities.

Sanofi and Gilead moved down in the rankings of Scrip's top 100 pharmaceutical companies, based on 2017 pharma sales, while Johnson & Johnson, GSK and AbbVie moved up. Shire joined the top 20 just as it is about to be consumed by Takeda.

Scrip's latest rankings of the top 100 revenue earners in the medical technology industry, published in Outlook 2019, show the groups leading the global market tightening their grip further in 2017. This was partly a function of providers choosing to partner more and more with fewer suppliers who can offer a wider provision of services. But it was steady as she goes for most of the multinational medtechs, with some major exceptions, and there will be more M&A reflected in next year's rankings, based on 2018 revenues.