Welcome to FierceLifeSci Weekly Digest, your roundup of the biggest and most popular stories from each of our publications. | |
| Featured Story | Wednesday, July 5, 2017 Shire has decided to concentrate its U.S. operations into two main sites in Massachusetts—Cambridge and Lexington—in a move that will probably lead to the closure of some sites. |
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Top Stories Of The Week Wednesday, July 5, 2017 Former AstraZeneca executive Luke Miels will start his new job at crosstown rival GlaxoSmithKline in a few weeks, but the path between is littered with accusations and retorts that illustrate how personal and nasty the defection of a top executive can be. Thursday, July 6, 2017 Celgene has bought itself a spot toward the back of the pack in the PD-1 inhibitor market. The prolific dealmaker is paying $263 million upfront to get its mitts on the ex-Asia rights to Beigene’s PD-1 inhibitor BGB-A317 in solid tumors. Friday, June 30, 2017 More than two years ago, one analyst touted Vertex as Gilead’s best option for a buyout that could chip in top-line growth once times got hard in hepatitis C. Now, those times are here—and that analyst is still singing the same tune. Wednesday, July 5, 2017 Despite some early predictions that transparency would change everything, drug and device makers' payments to doctors have remained remarkably consistent since the 2014 debut of the U.S. government's Open Payments database. All told, 631,000 doctors collected $2.8 billion in general payments in 2016, roughly the same as last year. Wednesday, July 5, 2017 The anti-inflammatory drug amlexanox was invented in the 1980s to treat asthma but was quickly eclipsed by more effective treatments. Now a team of scientists led by the University of California at San Diego is looking at repurposing the drug in an entirely new setting: Type 2 diabetes. Friday, June 30, 2017 Last year, life science commercial intelligence firm Evaluate released a vaccine market projection stating that GlaxoSmithKline would top the industry by 2022, with Sanofi, Pfizer and Merck trailing in order. While GSK is still expected to top the industry that year, projections in the firm’s latest World Preview now see a different order among the other major players. Friday, June 30, 2017 Philips has agreed to buy the Spectranetics Corporation for about $2.2 billion. The acquired assets will bolster the Dutch company’s heart disease therapy portfolio and equip it to mount an assault on the multibillion-dollar market for coronary stents. Wednesday, July 5, 2017 California-based outsourced research services provider Science Exchange has raised $28 million in its third funding round. Thursday, July 6, 2017 Swiss drugmaker Novartis expects big things from its CAR-T personalized leukemia med, including FDA approval this year, and Oxford BioMedica plans to be along for the ride. The Oxford, U.K.-based group has nailed down a new agreement with Novartis to provide the commercial supplies of the lentiviral vectors for Novartis' first CAR-T treatment. | |