News

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Besponsa (inotuzumab ozogamicin), an antibody-drug conjugate, to treat adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has entered into a collaboration with Insilico Medicine Inc to use the US company’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform to discover new drugs. This is its second AI deal in less than two months.

Underwriters for the US initial public share offering of Zealand Pharma A/S have exercised an option to buy more shares, increasing proceeds for the Danish company to DKK 566.4 million ($89.4 million), up from DKK 492.5 million ($78.3 million) previously.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc has stopped development of suptavumab, a candidate antibody for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants following the failure of a Phase 3 trial to prevent medically- attended infections.

Denmark’s Zealand Pharma A/S has raised DKK 492.5 million ($78.3 million) from its previously announced initial public share offering on Nasdaq in the US. The goal is to support the clinical development of two of its peptide therapeutics.

Evotec AG continued to thrive in the 2017 second quarter and first-half year benefiting from the growth of its drug discovery services for third parties. In a call with analysts on 10 August, the company confirmed that revenue for the year is expected to grow by more than 15%.

Despite downward pressure on insulin prices in the US, Novo Nordisk was able to increase group sales in the first half year of this year on the strength of its new generation insulins and Victoza, its glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drug for Type 2 diabetes.

A Phase 2a study of a drug developed by Galapagos NV for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis has halted the progression of the disease in a randomised, placebo-controlled study. Galapagos said it is making plans for a late-stage trial.

H. Lundbeck A/S has made significant progress in improving profitability following a rolling restructuring programme that began in 2015. At 30 June, the company’s operating margin was 24.3%, up from 12.7% a year earlier. This compares with an operating loss in 2015.

While new collaborations spring up regularly among developers of antibody drugs, existing partnerships also expire.