Researchers at Hokkaido University in Japan, in a collaboration with American scientists, may have identified neural crosstalk as the mechanism that drives widespread inflammation in inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis and atherosclerosis.
A little more than a week after announcing plans to acquire Ra Pharmaceutical for $2.1 billion, UCB’s psoriasis drug bimekizumab met all endpoints in the first of three Phase III studies.
The Canadian province of British Columbia said its public drug plan will switch as many as 20,400 patients from three branded biologic drugs to cheap near-copies called biosimilars.
Pfizer’s blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz has been a strong performer for the company, bringing in $1.77 billion in revenue last year, but now the company has indicated it intends to make a change in a post-marketing study due to safety concerns.
The return on R&D investment for leading biopharmaceutical manufacturers fell to a nine-year low while the U.S. FDA approved a record-breaking amount of novel medicines during 2018.
Johnson & Johnson said the company’s blockbuster drug Stelara was found to be effective in treating a chronic bowel disease in a late-stage trial.
Novartis’ Sandoz division received approval from the European Commission for its biosimilar Zessly (infliximab) in gastroenterological, rheumatological and dermatological diseases.
Novartis’ generics unit Sandoz said the European Commission approved Erelzi – the company’s biosimilar to Amgen’s Enbrel – to treat inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis.
