News

AstraZeneca has sold Tillotts Pharma rights to gastroenterology drug Entocort for $215 million, under a bid to hone its focus on core areas such as cancer and diabetes.

It seems US regulatory advisors are backing approval of Lilly’s lung cancer drug necitumumab despite safety concerns over the potentially inreased risk of deadly blood clots.

GlaxoSmithKline is bringing on board the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Centre to work on a programme aimed at eradicating cancer stem cells to treat leukaemia and other diseases.

Around half of all patients with breast cancer could benefit from taking the hormone progesterone alongside their treatment, indicate findings of a study funded by Cancer Research UK and published in the journal Nature.

Pfizer has become the first biopharma to link arms with non-profit group the Jeffrey Modell Foundation under an agreement to carry out research into immunological diseases.

The number of prescriptions dispensed in England in 2014 rose 3.3%, or 34.5 million items, from the prior year, driven by increases in the use of bloodthinners, antidepressants, diabetes drugs and Viagra.

Sanofi is extending its collaboration with Medicines for Malaria Venture to jointly develop a one-shot, fixed-dose combination therapy for malaria, the world’s deadliest parasitic disease that claims more than half a million lives a year.

Takeda’s Adcetris has become the first drug to win funding for use on the National Health Service in Wales under a new assessment process for ultra-rare medicines.

UK Chancellor George Osborne has committed to increasing NHS funding by £8 billion a year in the 2015 Budget.

Patients with a particular form of epilepsy in the UK can now access Eisai’s Fycompa to reduce serious seizures after regulators expanded the scope of the anti-convulsant’s reach last month.

Eli Lilly’s experimental lung cancer drug necitumumab has raised concerns with the FDA after trial data it suggested it could increase the chance of fatal blood clots, despite improving survival.

Dublin, Ireland-based Allergan is shelling out $125 million on US medical device group Oculeve and its dry eye disease development programmes.

Allergan has continued its recent mega spending spree snapping up exclusive global rights to a migraine programme in development at Merck & Co.

UK patients are set to benefit from a wide range of new healthcare technologies approved by the NHS Innovation Accelerator scheme, designed to create the conditions and culture changes necessary to accelerate adoption of cutting-edge solutions and thus boost patient care.

Horizon Pharma has launched a $3-billion hostile takeover bid for Depomed, taking its offer straight to shareholders after an initial approach was spurned by the latter’s management.