Top Pharma News - April 2016

AbbVie Agrees to Buy Stemcentrx

April 28, 2016

Pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc. has agreed to acquire Stemcentrx Inc., a cancer-drug developer, for $5.8 billion. This is part of AbbVie’s continuing aggressive push for building an oncology business.

Keytruda Shows Promise in Patients with Merkel Cell Carcinoma, A Rare Form of Skin Cancer

April 19, 2016

KEYTRUDA is a medicine that contains the humanized antibody pembrolizumab and it treats cancer types such as melanoma and lung cancer by working with the immune system. A new study showed that more than half of the patients responded to a rare but aggressive form of skin cancer known as Merkel cell carcinoma.

Study Reveals that Opdivo from Bristol-Myers extends survival in head and neck cancer

Apr 19, 2016

According to data from a late-stage study, the cancer immunotherapy drug of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Opdivo, assisted advanced head and neck cancer patients with a dismal prognosis live longer than other standard treatments.

Nplate? Study in The Lancet Shows Substantial Increase in Durable Platelet Response Among Children with Immune Thrombocytopenia

April 19, 2016

Amgen has announced that The Lancet published results from a Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of Nplate? (romiplostim) in children with symptomatic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). According to the study, 52 percent of Nplate patients achieved a durable platelet response, compared with 10 percent of placebo-treated patients (p=0.002, odds ratio 9.1, 95 percent CI: 1.9, 43.2). Moreover, Nplate reduced rates of bleeding by more than 30 percent in children affected by blood disorder.

Sanofi to launch dengue mass vaccination program

April 15, 2016

French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi launched the world’s first mass vaccination program for dengue fever in the Philippines on Monday, April 4, 2016. The program brought to fruition a 20-year development process in which the company has invested €1.5bn.

Pfizer, Allergan call off $160 billion merger after U.S. moves to block inversions

April 6, 2016

American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer called off a $160 billion merger with Dublin-based Allergan. It is considered as the biggest win of President Obama’s campaign to stop American companies from heading overseas to avoid U.S. taxes.

Janssen Collaborates with TESARO, Inc., for Niraparib in Prostate Cancer

Apr 06, 2016

Janssen Biotech, Inc. has announced that it has entered a worldwide collaboration and license agreement with TESARO, Inc. for exclusive rights to the investigational compound niraparib in prostate cancer, which is an orally administered poly polymerase (PARP) inhibitor. Nirparib is currently in late-stage development for patients with ovarian cancer and metastatic breast cancer.

Pfizer Announces Positive Results from The Trial of Investigational Tofacitinib in Adults with Psoriatic Arthritis

April 5, 2016

Pfizer Inc. in U.S. has announced positive results from its first phase 3 study investigation of tofacitinib for treating adult patients with psoriatic arthritis. This study was termed as Oral Psoriatic Arthritis trial (OPAL) Broaden. This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of tofacitinib 5 mg and 10 mg twice daily (BID) in adult patients with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA). These patients were tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi)-na?ve and had an inadequate response to at least one conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (csDMARD). Results from the trial OPAL Broaden demonstrated that both tofacitinib 5 mg BID and 10 mg BID were superior to treatment with placebo at 3 months as measured by Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) score and American College of Rheumatology 20 (ACR20) response.

GSK Returns to War against Cancer

April 3, 2016

It looked like the UK pharmaceuticals group GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was declaring surrender in the war on cancer when the company agreed to sell its oncology drugs for $16 billion to Novartis in 2014. However, after two years, GSK returns to this war on cancer again.

New Clinical Results show Novartis' Entresto? reduced cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure

April 2, 2016

New clinical analysis shows Novartis' Entresto? reduced cardiovascular (CV) death or hospitalization for heart failure, steadily benefitting patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) regardless of prior hospital admissions due to heart failure or background therapy. The analysis showed that Entresto benefited patients considered clinically stable, with no history or only a remote history of prior heart failure hospitalization, just as much as it did those who were least-stable (hospitalization for heart failure within 3 months of baseline).