News and Trends 28 Feb 2018 Yet Another Checkpoint Inhibitor Goes to Trial with Bavarian Nordic’s Cancer Vaccine Bavarian Nordic and AstraZeneca collaborate on a treatment that uses a cancer vaccine along with a checkpoint inhibitor to treat colorectal and pancreatic cancer. Notably, this is the third checkpoint inhibitor to be tested with Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine. A Phase I/II trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of using Bavarian Nordic’s cancer vaccine CV301 in […] February 28, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 26 Feb 2018 AstraZeneca Collaborates With Swedish Biotech To Speed Up Drug Development AstraZeneca collaborates with Swedish firm Pelago Bioscience to develop assay that increases the speed and efficiency of drug development. Pelago, a Karolinska Institute spin-off, studies the interactions between a drug and its target to make the drug development process faster and more efficient. The Cellular Thermal Shift Assay (CETSA) was developed by Pelago to examine the […] February 26, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Feb 2018 FDA Approves AstraZeneca’s Lung Cancer Treatment after Rejecting Merck and Pfizer’s The FDA approval will give AstraZeneca a competitive advantage in the lung cancer treatment market over Merck KGaA & Pfizer, who received rejections for a similar treatment. AstraZeneca received FDA approval for Imfinzi in non-small cell lung cancer one day after Merck KgA and Pfizer received a rejection for competitor drug Bavencio in the same indication. Imfinzi (durvalumab) […] February 21, 2018 - 2 minutesmins - By Alexander Burik Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 15 Jan 2018 The FDA Gives AstraZeneca’s Breast Cancer Drug the Go-Ahead The UK big pharma company’s Lynparza will be for women with advanced breast cancer that is specifically caused by mutations in the BRCA gene. Global pharma giant AstraZeneca focuses on the development of drugs for cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The company, which is working on a number of small molecules and biologics for a […] January 15, 2018 - 3 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 2 Nov 2017 AstraZeneca and Moderna want to beat Novartis at Treating Heart Failure AstraZeneca will work with Moderna Therapeutics to bring together to the market an mRNA version of Novartis’ failed heart failure drug Serelaxin. AstraZeneca has signed a deal with US biotech Moderna Therapeutics to co-develop and co-commercialize an mRNA drug encoding for the protein hormone relaxin. The therapy has the same target as Novartis’ Serelaxin (RLX030), a drug that was dropped in March […] November 2, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 20 Oct 2017 Leading Pharma-Academic Partnership Unravels the Mystery of a Major Cancer Gene The PTEN gene controls cell growth and behavior, with its loss implicated in cancer. AstraZeneca and Babraham have collaborated to improve our understanding of how this happens. The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK and AstraZeneca have unveiled research that helps us to better understand a key cancer gene, PTEN – reportedly the second most altered gene in cancers. […] October 20, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Alex Dale Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 17 Oct 2017 Blockbuster Potential: How Biotech is Paving the Way to Clear Skin from Psoriasis Though the psoriasis market is teeming with effective products, companies have developed ways to devise new, more effective modes of treatment. Psoriasis is a common autoimmune disorder that affects the skin, often causing patches of dry, itchy, and painful lesions. In severe cases, people can develop psoriatic arthritis, which can lead to painful inflammation in […] October 17, 2017 - 7 minutesmins - By Diana Kwon Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 11 Sep 2017 UPDATE: AstraZeneca’s Checkpoint Inhibitor Could be a Lung Cancer Blockbuster UPDATE: 11/09/2017: AstraZeneca has presented impressive results at ESMO that show Imfinzi adding 11 months to patient survival, or decreasing the risk of progression by 48%, in Stage 3 NSCLC. This indication represents a sizable market segment — about half of lung cancer — and Imfinzi’s first-line position could make it a blockbuster. Original Publication: […] September 11, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 7 Sep 2017 Circassia Moves Away from a Failed Allergy Pipeline with Phase III Success Circassia has positive Phase III results from its respiratory pipeline, great news for the company after abandoning its allergy immunotherapies due to clinical failure. Circassia Pharmaceuticals, based in Oxford, has reported a Phase III success with Duaklir, a drug combination for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The trial was run by AstraZeneca, […] September 7, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 21 Aug 2017 AstraZeneca Teams Up with German Biotech to Develop mRNA Therapy AstraZeneca and its R&D arm MedImmune have partnered with Munich-based Ethris to use its mRNA technology to develop treatments for respiratory disease. Ethris, located in the Munich biotech hub of Martinsried, has attracted the attention of AstraZeneca with its mRNA platform despite still being in an early development stage. The big pharma will pay Ethris €25M […] August 21, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 27 Jul 2017 AstraZeneca Misses Endpoint in Big Checkpoint Inhibitor Combo Trial AstraZeneca has announced its Phase III trial with durvalumab and tremelimumab has failed to achieve better results than standard chemotherapy in lung cancer. AstraZeneca’s MYSTIC study was evaluating a combination of checkpoint inhibitors as a first-line treatment for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. The therapy couldn’t improve progression-free survival when compared with the standard of care […] July 27, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 3 May 2017 Unexpected Side Effects: Are we Ready for the Rise of Immunotherapies? As immunotherapies are moving from large academic centers to clinics across the world, doctors are realizing that releasing the breaks of the immune system comes with serious risks – and that research on its adverse effects is lagging behind. This week, AstraZeneca’s anti-PD-L1 antibody durvalumab received FDA approval to treat patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma, making […] May 3, 2017 - 4 minutesmins - By Melanie De Almeida Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email