| Welcome to FierceLifeSci Weekly Digest, your roundup of the biggest and most popular stories from each of our publications. | |
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Featured Story Friday, March 3, 2017 As incoming GlaxoSmithKline CEO Emma Walmsley gets ready to move into the company’s top spot, shareholders have some objections—and they center on her pay package. Top Stories Of The Week Monday, March 6, 2017 Drugmakers spend big money crafting the names of their new products. Specialists draw on the “personalities” of each letter of the alphabet, brainstorm dozens of candidates and run their ideas by the FDA for approval. In the end, they’re prime candidates for spoofing. Just ask Saturday Night Live. Friday, March 3, 2017 Sanofi has paid €120 million ($126 million) upfront and committed to up to €495 million more for a stake in AstraZeneca’s experimental monoclonal antibody against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The agreement will see Sanofi and AstraZeneca equally share costs and profits for a phase 2b asset with the potential to immunize infants against a virus that kills 160,000 children a year. Wednesday, March 8, 2017 A Gilead Sciences exec took on pharmacy benefits managers earlier this week, claiming that PBMs are the driving force behind high drug prices. That didn't sit well with Express Scripts, the world's largest in that field—and a top exec quickly struck back. Thursday, March 2, 2017 University College London scientists have identified the inhibitor of a cell-protecting protein as a promising new target in treating Alzheimer’s disease. They tested the approach in fruit fly and mouse models and hope to translate their work to human nerve cells. Monday, March 6, 2017 For the first time, the public health watchdogs at the Access to Medicine Foundation have trained their microscopes specifically on vaccines and the companies that make them. Their findings? GlaxoSmithKline topped its Big Pharma vax rivals Sanofi, Pfizer and Merck & Co. in all three categories the group considered. Wednesday, March 8, 2017 OncoCyte, which is developing blood-based tests to catch cancer early, announced Monday that its lung cancer diagnostic succeeded in a 300-patient study. The company plans to launch the test in the second half of this year. Monday, March 6, 2017 It turns out the FDA warning letter India's Wockhardt reported last week for a plant in the U.S. is the second regulatory whipping for the drugmaker this year. A sterile injectables plant that Wockhardt is trying to get approved by the FDA has been issued an untitled letter. Friday, March 3, 2017 INC Research is already the most loyal partner to Medidata Solutions, having been using all nine products of the data technology company. Now, as the two celebrated the partnership’s 10-year anniversary, the CRO has decided to extend their contract for a few more years and start using two more products of Medidata. |
