News

The government’s case for seven-day working in primary care has taken another hit with a new batch of data suggesting that most patients don’t need weekend opening.

Sanofi has inked a licensing deal with South Korea’s Hanmi to beef up its research pipeline with a trio of investigational diabetes therapies.

The US has become the first country in the world to approve GlaxoSmithKline’s novel biologic Nucala, as an add-on maintenance therapy for a difficult-to-treat form of asthma.

Johnson & Johnson has announced that it is acquiring privately-held, clinical-stage biopharma Novira Therapeutics, but has kept financial details of the deal firmly under wraps.

Japanese drug giant Eisai has entered into a joint development programme with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Liverpool for preclinical development of the novel antimalarial candidate E209.

The National Health Service could save tens of millions of pounds by switching to a new radiotherapy regime for patients with prostate cancer, suggest findings of a major clinical trial presented at the National Cancer Research Institute Cancer Conference in Liverpool this week.

It is currently looking like children and adolescents with neuroblastoma will not be getting routine access to United Therapeutics’ Unituxin on the National Health Service in England and Wales, after cost regulators deemed the drug too expensive. 

Patients with certain forms of breast cancer will be able to get treatment with Roche’s Kadcyla through England’s Cancer Drugs Fund after all, following successful last-ditch negotiations between the pharma and NHS England.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has written directly to all junior doctors in England promising that they will not suffer a pay cut under a new contract being imposed by the government next year, in a move that could ward off any potential strikes by the profession.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published final draft guidance backing the use of Santen’s eye drug Ikervis on the National Health Service in England and Wales, after an initial rejection earlier this year.

A study of over 500 UK general practices has found that around one in 100 patients is at risk from receiving an “inappropriate” prescription, and around one in 250 is not being monitored correctly.

Sanofi is linking arms with BioNTech under multiyear exclusive collaboration and license agreement targeting the discovery and development of up to five new cancer immunotherapies containing a mix of messenger RNAs, that could bring more than $1.5 billion to the latter’s books.

Bristol-Myers Squibb is acquiring private US biotech Cardioxyl in a deal that could be worth more than $2 billion.

The Department of Health is setting aside a cash pot of £15 million for GPs so that practices won’t feel any pinch from a sharp rise in Care Quality Commission fees planned within the next two years.

GPs fear that more than half of patients aged over 75 years are taking too many medicines and that many are not taking them as prescribed, new research has found, highlighting the urgent need for new procedures to improve treatment and compliance and thus boost care and save money.