WELCOME TO FIERCE LIFE SCIENCES WEEKLY DIGEST Arsenal Bio’s $220 million fundraising haul, backed by Bristol Myers Squibb, is making a significant splash. Promising genetically edited cell therapies fine-tuned to certain tumors, the company’s lead asset is gunning for ovarian cancer. Meanwhile Pfizer is switching up its oncology chief, moving Andy Schmeltz to a new role as commercial strategy SVP. He’ll be replaced by Suneet Varma, who has led Pfizer's rare disease department for two years. And at the ESMO meeting in Paris, Merck presented five-year data showing the benefits of adding Keytruda to chemotherapy for lung cancer. Those stories plus our top reads of the week follow below. | |
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Featured Story | By Zoey Becker,Angus Liu After bringing on a new global chief marketing officer, Pfizer is now moving former oncology president Andy Schmeltz to a new role focused on business development, with rare disease president Suneet Varma taking his place. read more |
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Top Stories Of The Week By Max Bayer Arsenal Bio is reeled in $220 million in series B funds off the promise of its programmable autologous cell therapies. The latest fundraising was backed in part by Bristol Myers Squibb, which has partnered with the company on a number of programs. read more By Angus Liu Keytruda’s KEYNOTE-189 trial marked a watershed moment in the history of lung cancer drug development by showing a monster survival benefit. Now, Merck & Co. is giving a five-year look at the data that made the PD-1 inhibitor the standard of care in newly diagnosed patients. read more By Gabrielle Masson Sarepta Therapeutics has broken free from an FDA hold—put in place this June—on its phase 2 Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) clinical trial. read more By Kevin Dunleavy Boehringer Ingelheim gained an FDA approval to treat generalized pustular psoriasis, a rare and life-threatening skin condition that causes eruptions of painful blisters. Spevigo is an IL-36 receptor inhibitor, and marks the first dermatology go-ahead for the German firm. read more By Gabrielle Masson Roche has paid out $250 million cash to acquire Good Therapeutics as part of a bid to bolster its immuno-oncology efforts with the Seattle biotech's preclinical PD-1-regulated IL-2 program. read more By Angus Liu For a long time, AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi has mainly been limited to stage III non-small cell lung cancer. Now, the PD-L1 inhibitor has snatched a first for the immuno-oncology class, with two other important expansions awaiting FDA verdicts. read more By Andrea Park The trouble seemingly never ends for Philips’ beleaguered Respironics division. read more By Fraiser Kansteiner After a rough regulatory start to the year, India’s Aurobindo Pharma is charting plans for growth. The Hyderabad-based generics juggernaut will plow 3 billion Indian rupees (about $37.7 million) into an expansion of its subsidiary CuraTeQ Biologics, the company said Thursday. read more By Helen Floersh A team of researchers from two French universities has found that the absence of gonadotropin-releasing hormone could be driving olfactory dysfunction and cognitive decline in people with Down syndrome. In a small, pilot study published in Science, the team also showed that restoring GnRH could improve cognitive performance. read more By Max Bayer,Gabrielle Masson As venture capital pours into budding biotechs, we're launching the Fierce Biotech Fundraising Tracker to keep tabs on all things financing. read more By Teresa Carey This week on "The Top Line," we discuss Sarepta's phase 2 Duchenne muscular dystrophy clinical trial that was green-lit earlier this week after a clinical hold in June. We also chat the opposing results on either side of the pond for Illumina quest for Grail. read more Resources Sponsored By: Catalent What is the most suitable dosage form technology for the Oral Delivery of Lipid-Based Formulations? Sponsored by: Blue Matter, strategic consultants in the life sciences Medical Affairs plays a critical role in generating insights to inform strategic decisions, but that role is changing. This paper explores why, and how MA teams can stay ahead of the curve. Sponsored By: Catalent Learn how formulation development for a PFS affects manufacturing to drive the industry toward optimizing delivery of injectable products and, ultimately, improving patient care. Sponsored by: PwC Don’t miss these critical considerations when evaluating your HCP interactions management program. Sponsored By: CG Life Explore the new cell therapy handbook from Thermo Fisher Scientific. Sponsored By: Thermo Fisher Scientific Sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific The journey for starting or expanding a lab can be exhilarating, while also being challenging--learn how this free program provides savings and solutions to support your goals. Sponsored by: Catalent Did you know Catalent has newly expanded in-house capabilities spanning clinical and commercial scale manufacturing for DPIs, unit-dose, bi-dose and preserved multi-dose nasal sprays? Sponsored by: Catalent What are key considerations for intranasal delivery in the treatment of acute and chronic conditions? Sponsored by: Catalent Orally Inhaled & Nasal Drug Delivery: A Pipeline of Opportunities Events European Healthcare Compliance Certificate Program Septemeber 19-23, 2022 Promotional Review Committee Compliance and Best Practices Summit West (PRC West) September 20-22, 2022 | San Diego, CA Fierce New Product Planning Summit September 19-20, 2022 | Boston, MA Medical Affairs Strategic Summit West (MASS West) September 20-22, 2022 | San Diego, CA Fierce Digital Pharma East October 18-20, 2022 | Philadelphia, PA & October 25-28, 2022 | Virtual Event Clinical Quality Oversight Forum: Part of the Fierce Clinical Collective Oct 24-26, 2022 | Philadelphia PA | Presented by: Fierce Pharma Decentralized Clinical Trials Summit: Part of the Fierce Clinical Collective Oct 24-26, 2022 | Philadelphia, PA | Presented by: Fierce Pharma Good Clinical Practice Summit (GCP): Part of the Fierce Clinical Collective October 24-26, 2022 | Philadelphia, PA | Presented by Fierce Pharma Fierce European Trial Master File Summit November 14-16, 2022 | London, UK Drug Development Boot Camp® 2022 November 16-17, 2022 Fierce Launch Readiness for Medical Affairs & Communications Teams Summit November 30-December 1, 2022 | Free Virtual Event |
