Novartis temporarily suspended the production of the company’s Lutathera and Pluvicto cancer therapies at facilities in Italy and New Jersey after potential quality issues were discovered in their manufacturing.

Maybe Spider-Man was on to something. Although spider silk and synthetic forms have been used for a wide range of applications – including bullet-proof clothing, biodegradable bottles, and bandages and surgical thread – new research suggests it may have a use for cancer therapies.

FDA

After Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. submitted Phase III data from the Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company’s SIENDO study on selinexor, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was unlikely to support a supplemental New Drug Application approval for the drug.

Patients with severe COVID-19 who develop diabetes while hospitalized may have only a temporary form of the disease and their blood sugar levels may return to normal afterward, according to new findings. Additionally, new data illustrate the jumps in U.S. coronavirus infection rates caused by the Omicron variant and the heavier toll it has taken on minorities in the latest example of racial disparity in the pandemic.

AstraZeneca

Samsung Biologics Co. Ltd. said on December 13 the company would continue its partnership with AstraZeneca Plc on manufacturing biopharmaceuticals.

Germany’s BioNTech is acquiring Kite’s solid tumor neoantigen T-cell receptor (TCR) research-and-development platform and the Gilead company’s clinical manufacturing plant in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Three biopharma companies became publicly traded companies and made their debut on the Nasdaq this week.

T-knife GmbH, based in Berlin, Germany, closed a €66 million ($78.4 million) Series A round led by Versant Ventures and RA Capital Management.

At least 10 different drug compounds ranging from cancer therapies to antipsychotics and antihistamines may be effective at preventing the new coronavirus from multiplying in the body, according to a multidisciplinary study conducted by a team of scientists in the United States and France.

Researchers with the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, led by Carl June, published results from the first U.S. Phase I trial of CRISPR-Cas9-edited T-cells in humans with advanced cancer.