AstraZeneca’s rare disease arm Alexion agreed to resolve all patent disputes with Chugai Pharmaceutical regarding the prescription drug Ultomiris (ravulizumab) by signing a settlement agreement that will involve a one-time payment of $775 million.
The U.S. government will run out of supplies of COVID-19 treatments known as monoclonal antibodies as soon as late May and will have to scale back plans to get more unless Congress provides more funding, the White House said on March 15.
Moderna announced that the first participant was dosed in a Phase I trial of the company’s HIV trimer mRNA vaccine, mRNA-1574.
Incyte Corporation reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration pushed back the review of the company’s supplemental New Drug Application for Opzelura (ruxolitinib cream) for vitiligo.
One in four children with COVID-19 symptoms develop “long COVID,” according to data pooled from 21 earlier studies conducted in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. Also, according to a study reported on March 14 in JAMA Pediatrics, women who wish to pass protective antibodies induced by COVID-19 vaccines to their babies via breast milk should opt for the mRNA shots from Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech.
BioNTech announced an expansion of a collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to continue advancing mRNA technology and develop the FixVac candidate BNT116 in combination with Regeneron and Sanofi’s shared pharmaceutical product Libtayo (cemiplimab) for non-small cell lung cancer.
Sanofi and partner Swedish Orphan Biovitrum shared positive topline results from their ongoing Phase III trial on a candidate drug for patients diagnosed with severe hemophilia A.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the biopharma industry. From artificial intelligence breakthroughs to at-home genetic testing, BioSpace reviews some of the ways COVID-19 has changed the industry and what we may see in the near future.
Voyager Therapeutics partnered with Novartis in a potential $1.7 billion deal. The collaboration will enable Novartis to use the gene therapy company’s capsid discovery platform to create new treatments for three undisclosed CNS targets.
Scientists pinpointed 16 new genetic variants in people who developed severe COVID-19 in a large study published on March 7 that could help researchers develop treatments for very sick patients.