SteadyMed (NSDQ:STDY) said yesterday that it finished a clinical study for its lead drug candidate, Trevyent. The pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment is a combination of treprostinil and the PatchPump prefilled, disposable infusion system. The San Ramon, Calif.-based company said it is on track to submit a New Drug Application for Trevyent in the 2nd quarter […]
Pharmaceutical
Triple inhaler reduces COPD flare-ups by 20%
Researchers at the University of Manchester found that flare-ups in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can be reduced by 20% with a combined triple inhaler. The team’s work was published in the Lancet. The 2,691-patient trial compared an inhaler that delivers 3 different compounds to a commonly-used inhaler. Another sub-set of patients were administered a triple combination […]
Liposomal drug delivery system could improve solid tumor treatment
The oxygen-poor regions of solid tumors usually help make them resistant to chemotherapy and other forms of treatment. But researchers at Oregon State University have devised away to take advantage of those hypoxic areas and improve solid tumor treatment with a targeted, liposomal drug delivery system. The team used the cancer drug, vinblastine, which is […]
Therapix, Yissum ink nasal drug delivery pact
Therapix Biosciences (NSDQ:TRPX) said today that it inked a sublicense agreement for nasal drug delivery tech from Yissum Research Development Company at the Hebrew University. According to the deal, Yissum plans to give Therapix an exclusive, global, sub-licensable, royalty-bearing license for its nasal delivery tech to be used with cannabinoids. Get the full story at […]
Actelion shareholders OK R&D spinout
Actelion (VTX:ATLN) shareholders today reportedly approved spinning off the company’s early clinical assets and drug discovery branch into a new company. The move keeps Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) $30 billion takeover on track to close in the 2nd quarter. The newly formed biopharmaceutical company will be called Idorsia Ltd and led by Actelion CEO Jean-Paul Clozel. Shares in Idorsia […]
Acorda to cut 20% of staff in restructuring effort
Acorda Therapeutics (NSDQ:ACOR) said today that it plans to cut 20% of its workforce as a part of a cost reduction and restructuring effort. The move comes less than 1 week after the company lost patents related to its multiple sclerosis drug, Ampyra. The Ardsley, N.Y.-based company had 597 employees as of February, according to Reuters, […]
Study: Nanoparticles could improve efficacy of cancer immunotherapy
Researchers from the University of North Carolina have discovered that they can potentially improve cancer immunotherapy drugs by binding 2 compounds to a single nanoparticle. The team’s work was presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. “Our data shows that 2 compounds on a single nanoparticle will make […]
More trouble for United’s Remodulin
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled yesterday that the claims of United Therapeutics‘s (NSDQ:UTHR) patent, which covers Remodulin, are unpatenable due to obviousness. SteadyMed (NSDQ:STDY) challenged the patent in October last year. The patent, No. 8,497,393, relates to the process to purify prostacyclin derivatives, including treprostinil, which is […]
EpiPen purchasers level class action against Mylan over price hikes
Mylan (NSDQ:MYL) was hit with another class action lawsuit over the price of its EpiPen device yesterday. The lawsuit, which was filed in the Washington Western District Court, alleges that Mylan engaged in a scheme with pharmacy benefit managers to dominate the market and overcharge customers. Although the Canonsburg, Penn.-based company has been hit with several lawsuits […]
Researchers mimic bee venom strategy to help drugs get past blood-brain barrier
Researchers from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain said yesterday that they have shown in preclinical tests that a bee-venom peptide, apamin, can be used to ferry medications across the blood-brain barrier. Although the blood-brain barrier prevents most things from getting in and flooding the brain, certain peptides in animal venoms can travel […]
Sanofi boasts observational hypoglycemia rates for Toujeo insulin injection
Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) touted real-world clinical data for its Toujeo insulin glargine injection from a new observational study. The data from Deliver 2 showed that patients with Type II diabetes who switched to Toujeo from other basal insulins had significantly lower risk of hypoglycemia without compromising blood sugar control. The Deliver 2 study analyzed electronic medical […]