News

New products represented 16% of Novartis’s net sales of $12.1 billion in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Swiss company’s first quarter report released on 20 April 2010.

Elan Corporation Plc said that it is exploring the possibility of dividing its operations into two separate, publicly-listed companies. They would comprise a drug technology business and a neurology drug development business.

Genmab A/S is set to receive DKK 87 million ($16 million) from GlaxoSmithKline Plc following the conditional approval in Europe of Arzerra (ofatumumab), its treatment for refractory chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).

Celgene Corp has agreed to pay the privately-held Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc of Cambridge, Massachusetts $130 million upfront, including an equity investment, for access to Agios’s cancer metabolism research platform.

The European Medicines Agency said that Novartis Europharm Ltd has withdrawn its marketing authorisation application for a drug to treat chronic hepatitis C virus infection. The product is Joulferon (albinterferon alpha-2b).

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment option for Tarceva (erlotinib) for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. This follows a positive opinion for the same indication from the EMA.

BioAlliance Pharma SA said that it has won approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to market its anti-fungal therapy, Loramyc, to treat patients whose immune systems have been compromised following chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Oxford BioMedica Plc has set new targets for its portfolio of gene therapies and hopes to have a partnership in place for at least one- a product for Parkinson’s disease - by the end of 2010. The company is funded up to the beginning of 2012.

Roche posted group sales of CHF 12.2 billion (€8.5 billion) in the first quarter, up by 9% in local currencies. Pharmaceuticals sales rose by 10% and diagnostics, by 9%. It plans to file a US marketing application for a new breast cancer drug in 2010.

The Roche group has announced plans to acquire Medingo Ltd, a company which is developing a semi-disposable insulin patch pump for diabetics. Roche will pay $160 million upfront as well as up to 25% of this amount in performance milestones.