Hungarian scientist Katalin Kariko and U.S. colleague Drew Weissman, who met in line for a photocopier before making mRNA molecule discoveries that paved the way for COVID-19 vaccines, won the 2023 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday.

The drug, GSBR-1290, belongs to the same class of treatments as Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s (LLY.N) diabetes drug Mounjaro.

AbbVie

AbbVie said on Friday a late-stage study of its experimental combination therapy to treat a form of blood cancer failed to meaningfully increase the survival rate of patients without the disease worsening.

J&J

J&J’s therapy combination of antibody treatment Rybrevant and experimental drug lazertinib showed a clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free survival rate in patients.

CRISPR

The New England Journal of Medicine study suggests that the 2022 death of a Duchenne muscular dystrophy patient was due to an adverse effect of recombinant AAV used to deliver the gene therapy.

AbbVie office

Soon after cancelling its contract with I-Mab, AbbVie has now also turned its back on a partnership with Berkeley-based Caribou Biosciences that was focused on advancing allogeneic CAR-T therapeutics.

forklift, chemical warehouse

The dual role of chemicals in both R&D and manufacturing means that chemical procurement is critical to keeping biopharma companies operating smoothly. A reliable and robust chemical supply chain is essential for both phases, as disruptions can have ripple effects that impact not just timelines and costs, but also the quality and safety of the end products.

The drug candidate, olezarsen, showed statistically significant reduction in levels of triglyceride compared to placebo, as well as showed a 100% reduction in inflammation of the pancreas.

Novartis, California

The Swiss pharma is one step closer to bringing Lutathera into the front-line setting, with data from the Phase III NETTER-2 study showing that the radiotherapy met its primary endpoint.

Takeda

The Japanese multinational pharma is pledging up to $580 million in a development and commercialization deal with AcuraStem for the latter’s PIKFYVE program for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.