The European Medicines Agency has adopted new conflict-of-interest rules for the experts that advise its scientific committees. In future, declarations from the agency’s experts will be published on the EMA website.
Crucell NV has scheduled an informal meeting of shareholders for 10 December 2010 to discuss Johnson & Johnson’s offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares in the company that it does not already own, in a bid valued at about €1.75 billion.
Following a 2% rise in group sales in the first nine months of 2010, the Roche Group has confirmed that it expects core earnings per share at constant exchange rates to show double-digit growth for the full year.
The US Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about the possible risk of atypical thigh bone fracture in patients who take bisphosphonates which are used to prevent and treat osteoporosis. Manufactures are being asked to alter their labels.
In a groundbreaking agreement, H. Lundbeck A/S has entered into a collaboration with Genmab A/S to develop human antibody therapeutics for disorders of the central nervous system. This will be Lundbeck’s first entry into antibody therapeutics.
Data from a large Phase 3 trial of a new hormone therapy, abiraterone, for men with prostate cancer has been called significant by a prostate cancer expert at Cancer Research UK. The data showed the drug gave a nearly four-month survival advantage.
Novartis has become the latest pharmaceutical company to invest in antibody-drug conjugates, a technology that is said to hold considerable promise for the treatment of cancer.
The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and Roche Molecular Systems Inc have entered into a three-year collaboration to find out if they can predict a woman’s risk for developing cervical cancer.
Merck Serono has announced plans to appeal against the European Medicines Agency’s decision not to recommend approval of its candidate multiple sclerosis drug, Movectro (cladribine). The negative opinion was issue on 23 September 2010.
Roche Holding AG and its US partner, ImmunoGen Inc, said that interim results from a Phase 2 study of their antibody-drug conjugate, trastuzumab-DM1, showed a better response rate in women with metastatic breast cancer, than with a comparator.