The pharma industry briefing

The latest news, approvals and clinical trials you need to know about this month

Data: News
in Numbers

£50m

The amount that Biotech giant Amgen has invested in UK genetics firm Oxford Nanopore

£54m

The value of GlaxoSmithKline’s new pharmaceutical production centre in Montrose, Scotland

6%

The expected CAGR of the global pharmaceutical glass packaging market over the next five years

2022

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to prevent a million heart attacks and strokes by 2022

781

$600

million

The number of generic drugs approved by the FDA in fiscal 2018

Otsuka and Proteus extend digital drugs tie-up

Japanese company Otsuka Pharmaceutical is expanding its digital medicines venture with a multimillion-dollar deal to commercialise drugs containing tiny sensors that can track whether patients have taken vital medication.

Source: Financial Times

Baby-saving drug wins $3m prize in 'Oscars' for science

C Frank Bennett, senior vice president of research at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, and Adrian Krainer of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, who developed a drug to treat a condition called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) – also known as floppy baby syndrome received one of seven $3m Breakthrough awards for developing the treatment.

Source: The Guardian

Changsheng Biotech hit with record fine for faulty vaccines

Authorities in China have imposed an Rmb9.1bn ($1.3bn) fine on Chinese vaccine maker Changsheng Biotech after the company falsified data in the production of rabies vaccines. This is claimed to be the largest penalty handed out to a Chinese pharmaceutical company.

Source: Financial Times

Overuse of antibiotics threatens surgery

Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, has warned that three million common surgical procedures, including caesarean sections and hip replacements, could be hazardous in a future where hospital-acquired infections have become resistant to the antibiotics we have to treat them.

Source: The Guardian

Approvals

ILUMYA (tildrakizumab-asmn)

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has announced that its moderate-to-severe psoriasis treatment ILUMYA™ (tildrakizumab-asmn) 100 mg/mL is now available in the US. ILUMYA is an injectable interleukin-23 (IL-23) inhibitor approved by the FDA for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adults who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy.

Source: Cision

OMS721

The US FDA has granted orphan drug designation to Omeros’ OMS721 for treatment of hematopoietic stem cell transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy.

Source: Business Wire

KHAPZORY™
(levoleucovorin)

The FDA has approved Spectrum Pharmaceuticals’ KHAPZORY for injection, a folate analog for three indications: rescue after high-dose methotrexate therapy in patients with osteosarcoma; diminishing the toxicity associated with overdosage of folic acid antagonists or impaired methotrexate elimination; and the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in combination with fluorouracil.

Source: Business Wire

Imraldi

Samsung Bioepis has announced the European launch of Humira biosimilar Imraldi. Doctors in the UK will be able to prescribe Imraldi for any of Humira’s approved indications, which include the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa and Crohn's disease.

Source: Pharma Times