| 02.02.18 | Apotex drama, Pfizer and Roche program cuts

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Pfizer confirms neuro cuts as it swings the ax on a host of other early projects

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Pfizer already forewarned that it was cutting jobs and projects out of its neuro unit. Now we have the full list of retired candidates, alongside a host of other experimental drugs up for the chop.

Roche dumps 4 eye, CNS and cancer drugs in Q4 clear-out

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Swiss major Roche announced its financials today, and buried within its pipeline updates the company announced it was dumping a host of early- and late-stage candidates.

Age bias suit against Biogen claims its North Carolina manufacturing plant favored millennials

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Biogen has found itself the target of an age discrimination lawsuit that hinges on whether the company marginalized a former manufacturing executive as part of a campaign to cater to millennials.

Targeting a toll-like receptor could attack the root cause of lupus

Friday, January 26, 2018

French scientists have discovered that an X chromosome-linked overexpression of a toll-like receptor could be behind the creation of self-targeting antibodies in women with lupus.

PhRMA points finger at insurers on new drug cost website for consumers

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

PhRMA wants to keep talking about drug costs. So as part of its ongoing “Let’s Talk About Cost” marketing campaign, the pharma trade organization launched a new consumer-facing website to address the issue and explain the industry's perspective.

Gottlieb: We need to think differently about how we regulate diagnostics

Monday, January 29, 2018

Scott Gottlieb, M.D., wants the FDA to work with Congress to overhaul the regulation of diagnostics. The FDA commissioner thinks revisions are needed to give the agency authorities that are a better fit for modern diagnostics than the current 510(k) pathway.

Takeda’s Zika vaccine candidate wins FDA fast track status

Monday, January 29, 2018

For years, experts have expressed worries about the reactive nature of emerging disease vaccine development, most recently with the Zika outbreak. But even after the WHO stopped classifying Zika as an "emergency" in late 2016, Takeda pressed ahead with its program, this week winning the FDA's fast track designation.

MIT study finds that 14% of trials see approvals—higher than first thought

Thursday, February 1, 2018

A 14% approval rate for drugs coming out of clinical trials may not sound great, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say this is much higher than they thought, and that approvals are bouncing up again after a period of decline.

Sanofi expands U.S. biologics plant even as it strikes deals to stuff its pipeline

Monday, January 29, 2018

Sanofi, which has been converting its biologics plant in Framingham, Massachusetts, to digital manufacturing, will again expand the facility.

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