News

UCB Pharma has successfully filed its investigational antiepileptic brivaracetam with regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.

Following the example set by Australia over two years ago, the UK government is looking to pass a law before May’s general election on plain packaging for cigarettes “after carefully considering the evidence”.

Backed with £30 million from healthcare investment group Syncona and following major support from the UK government, University College London has created Autolus to develop CAR T-cell products to fight cancer.

Advisors to the European Medicines Agency have voted to support approval of Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug Saxenda, a higher dose form of its diabetes blockbuster Victoza.

Gedeon Richter and Actavis have unveiled positive results from a Phase III trial assessing the previously rejected cariprazine in preventing relapse in schizophrenia.

A new, more sensitive blood test could double the rate of heart attack diagnoses in women, potentially saving more lives if used in clinical practice, researchers have found.

Hot on the heels of a European approval regulators in the US have now also issued a green light for Novartis’ psoriasis drug Cosentyx (secukinumab), a bright star in the firm’s portfolio which is pegged to hit blockbusterdom by 2020.

The treatment of whistleblowers remains a stain on the reputation of the NHS, and has not only led to “unwarranted and inexcusable pain” for some people but has also undermined the willingness of others to come forward – with ongoing implications for patient safety, MPs have warned.

Although bereft of any actual details, President Barack Obama’s announcement about launching “a new Precision Medicine Initiative” has caused quite a stir.

The European Medicines Agency has published a guide to support implementation of a new international standard for the safety monitoring of medicines due to go live in July 2016.

BioInvent International has signed a clinical trial pact with Cancer Research UK, Cancer Research Technology, and Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research to test the potential of its experimental antibody in reducing resistance to rituximab treatment in patients with certain blood cancers.

US regulators have removed a partial clinical hold on trials of CytRx’ late-stage cancer drug aldoxorubicin, thereby permitting immediate enrolment of new patients.

Bangalore, India-based pharma Strides Arcolab has bagged non-exclusive rights to manufacture and distribute Gilead’s HIV therapy Tenofovir Alafenamide (TAF), both as a single agent product and in combination with other drugs.

Johnson & Johnson has posted a mixed bag of results for the fourth quarter or 2014, with a hefty drop in profit masking underlying growth in sales and a strong performance by prescription drugs.

Pressure group Médecins Sans Frontières is calling on drug giants Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline to slash the cost of their pneumococcal vaccines in developing nations to $5 a shot, to help increase its affordability and save more lives.