Stories We Didn’t Cover: Malaria Vaccine Money, Diabetes FDA Approvals

Try as we might, we can’t cover all the biotech news out there. During the week, we only pick the top stories to keep you informed but not waste your time. Here’s a roundup of news that didn’t make the cut this week.

• WHO has injected €14M into GSK to advance its malaria vaccine.
• Umecrine Cognition, a Karolinska Development company, has raised €4.6M to work on a new drug for hepatic encephalopathy.
• Kymab, a monoclonal antibody biopharma based in the UK, racked up €94M in a Series C round of financing.
• After acquiring an interferon alpha manufacturer last week, Neovacs has again ramped up its manufacturing capabilities by signing a partnership with 3P, a biopharmaceutical production company.

• Sarilumab from Sanofi and Regeneron demonstrated itself to be superior to Humira, but the pharmas can’t go anywhere until they sort out their “manufacturing deficiencies,” which were the subject of a CRL from the FDA last month.
• The FDA has OK’d diabetes combo therapies from both Sanofi and Novo Nordisk, deciding the race is a draw.
• Ahead of schedule, Genmab has scored a label expansion approval from the FDA for Darzalex to be marketed in combination with Velcade or Revlimid for bone marrow cancer.
• Two more patients die in Juno CAR-T trial. This brings the tally to five.
• Opdivo, a PD1 inhibitor from BMS, reached an additional milestone when it received additional EC approval for use by patients with relapsed or refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma after autologous stem cell transplantation.
• Sensorion received Orphan Drug Designation for SENS-401 for sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

• Medigene has a new CFO, Thomas Taapken, who joins the company from Epigenomics where he was CEO/CFO.
• Shire has expanded to Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

That’s All, Folks!

Sloth or Pain au Chocolat?

Image Credits: Kristen Segeren, Adam68, Mr Twister, mundosemfim / shutterstock.com