Verily gets $1B boost

Today's Big News

Sep 12, 2022
 

This year's Fierce 15 is here. We’re celebrating 2022's best biotech startups, with a particular focus on diversity in management and geography.  

Bristol Myers Squibb’s deucravacitinib has won FDA approval for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, and projects that the drug could potentially bring in more than $4 billion in revenue.  

Verily just got a $1 billion boost from parent company Alphabet that will go toward expansion efforts. Alongside the eye-popping funding round, Alphabet has also announced several leadership shakeups among its life sciences arm. - Gabrielle Masson

 

 

Featured

 

Fierce Biotech's 2022 Fierce 15

Welcome to this year's Fierce Biotech's Fierce 15. Join us in celebrating 2022's best of the best biotech startups. This year, we focused more than ever before on diversity in management and geography across the biotech world, highlighting a broader range of teams, leaders and science.

 
 
 
 

Top Stories

 

BMS’ preferred drug in its $74B Celgene buy is set to pay dividends, winning its first FDA nod

Back when Bristol Myers Squibb acquired Celgene in 2019 for $74 billion, it opted to keep the dermatology and immunology drug deucravacitinib, as opposed to the already-approved Otezla. And now, BMS doesn’t regret this move in the slightest. Deucravacitinib has won FDA approval for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.
 
 
 

Verily clinches $1B from parent company Alphabet, shakes up leadership team

Verily is preparing to expand its precision health businesses and got a $1 billion boost from its parent company to fuel its next stage of growth.
 
 
 

ESMO: Multi-cancer blood tests show promise, but questions remain

The advent of blood tests that can detect multiple different cancers at early stages will not only reshape how the disease is diagnosed but will bring about a major shift in the delivery of care.
 
 
 

ESMO: AstraZeneca's checkpoint inhibitor bispecific may rival Keytruda, but dose change leaves questions

In a race to design the next era of checkpoint inhibitors, AstraZeneca PD-L1 and CTLA-4 bispecific show efficacy rivaling data against Keytruda in first line lung cancer patients. But the dose level eliciting strong durability also came with significant toxicity, spurring a dose reduction.
 
 
 

ESMO: Bristol Myers, Roche fail in post-surgery kidney cancer. But is it good news for Merck's Keytruda?

Bristol Myers Squibb's and Roche's immunotherapies have both failed to move the needle when used after surgery in early-stage kidney cancer. But the two companies’ setbacks aren’t necessarily a full relief for Merck’s rival drug Keytruda.
 
 
 

ESMO: It's early days for Pfizer's EZH2 inhibitor, but there's a glimpse of hope for some

EZH2 inhibitors have shown their potential—already with one approved therapy and a few in the pipeline—and Pfizer is one of the latest biopharmas to add the tool to its clinical belt. And phase 1 data presented at the European Society of Medical Oncology congress 2022 point to a positive safety profile, with glimpses of benefit for some cancer patients, though not all. 
 
 
 

A look inside CVS Caremark's strategy for improving health equity

When the CVS Caremark team geared up to take on health disparities, it quickly realized that any initiative would require a significant basis in data to succeed.
 
 
 

Novo Nordisk taps Microsoft’s AI to boost drug discovery

Artificial intelligence has increasingly become a go-to tool—rather than a novelty—for drugmakers looking to build the next generation of groundbreaking therapeutics.
 
 
 

Merck KGaA plots 800 hires, earmarks €130M to boost single-use capacity at site in France

In its ongoing investment push, Merck KGaA will pour €130 million ($132 million) into beefing up the ability of its manufacturing arm—MilliporeSigma—to employ single-use assemblies at its facility in Molsheim, France.
 
 
 

Texas judge's ACA ruling faces long legal road, experts say

A judicial ruling last week challenges the system that protects many patients from having to make copayments for preventive care.
 
 
 

Ra Medical lines up reverse merger with Catheter Precision after layoffs, stock crash

Just a few months after beginning a review of “strategic alternatives” to its existing business plan—and proceeding to lay off around two-thirds of its full-time employees—Ra Medical has plotted a new route to potential financial success.
 
 
 

Pfizer among investors flooding Nimbus with $125M for TYK2 programs, phase 3 launch

Investors such as Pfizer have flooded Nimbus Therapeutics with $125 million in private financing, money that will go toward three clinical inflammatory and autoimmune disorder programs, including a phase 3 psoriasis launch.
 
 
 

Siemens Healthineers' Corindus surgical robot clears brain aneurysm study

The CorPath GRX Neurovascular System successfully completed 94% of its robotic-assisted procedures without the surgeon having to switch to a manual approach during the operation.
 
 
 
 
Fierce podcasts

Don't miss an episode

 

'The Top Line': Sarepta's DMD trial set to regain momentum, Illumina's quest for Grail sees opposing results

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.
 
 

Resources

 
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Custom Resource Center

Discover resources to support growth and innovation

Read through this library of resources to find out how you can strengthen innovation and efficiency, improve safety and quality, and prioritize resources to support your long-term goals.

 
 
 
Executive Summary

Leading lab instruments provider saves $2M a year

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Clarus Therapeutics (Clarus) is a men’s specialty pharmaceutical company that partnered with Catalent to develop a unique and convenient drug delivery form for their hormone replacement therapy.

 
 
 
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Strategies for the Optimal Scale-up & Tech Transfer of Oral Small Molecules

Learn more about how the transition from early to late phase of a small molecule program plays a pivotal role in a program’s ultimate success.

 
 
 
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Medical Affairs Metamorphosis, Part III: How Medical Affairs is Becoming a Key Hub for Evidence Generation

This paper explores how Medical Affairs is increasingly playing a key leadership role in evidence planning and generation (part 3 in a series).

 
 
 
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Plan for scalable process liquid and buffer preparation

Explore how Thermo Scientific’s Process Liquid Preparation Services can help you plan for scalable buffer preparation.

 
 
 
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Reduce control arm sizes by up to 22% for HD & ALS RCTs

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Orally Inhaled & Nasal Drug Delivery: A Pipeline of Opportunities

Orally Inhaled & Nasal Drug Delivery: A Pipeline of Opportunities

 
 
 
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Catalent Pulmonary & Nasal Delivery Capabilities Sheet

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?

 
 
 
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Intranasal Drug Product Development: Formulation to Manufacturing

What are key considerations for intranasal delivery in the treatment of acute and chronic conditions?

 
 
 
 

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