sitefansalaran Industry News

Drugmaker AbbVie (ABBV.N), opens new tab is in talks to acquire privately-held mental health therapeutics company Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth about $1 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The U.S. drugmaker has spent over $20 billion on acquisitions since 2023 as its flagship rheumatoid arthritis treatment, Humira, lost patent protection. Get a quick look at the days breaking legal news and analysis from The Afternoon Docket newsletter. Sign up here. Gilgamesh is a clinical-stage company developing therapies for psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. In May, AbbVie said it is partnering with Gilgamesh to develop therapies for psychiatric disorders, under which Gilgamesh could receive up to $1.95 billion in option fees and milestone payments. Deliberations over the acquisition are ongoing and could be delayed or fall apart, Bloomberg News reported.

GSK expects to deliver annual sales and profit growth towards the top end of its forecasts after beating second-quarter expectations on Wednesday, in a boost to its efforts to fuel growth despite product development and tariff challenges. The British drugmaker is hoping to reach annual sales of over 40 billion pounds ($53.44 billion) by 2031, even as it faces potential pharmaceutical tariffs and drug pricing pressure in the world-leading U.S. market. "We're very well positioned and continue to be part of investments so that our portfolio in the U.S. is more and more supplied from the U.S.," CEO Emma Walmsley told journalists. She added that GSK was also in talks with President Donald Trump's administration, which is pushing drugmakers to cut prices, but offered few details. The U.S. pharmaceuticals market - worth around $635 billion - makes up slightly over half of GSK's sales and is central to its growth plans. GSK said it had accounted for levies already implemented by Washington and expected tariffs on Europe's exports under a new U.S.-EU trade deal, as well as possible duties resulting from a U.S. investigation into pharmaceutical imports. It expects 2025 revenue to increase between 3% and 5%, with core profit per share growth of 6%...

Celcuity (CELC.O), opens new tab said on Monday its experimental combination treatment delayed the progression of a type of advanced breast cancer in a late-stage study, sending the biotech firm's shares surging to a record high. The drug, gedatolisib, in combination with Pfizer's (PFE.N), opens new tab Ibrance and AstraZeneca's (AZN.L), opens new tab endocrine therapy Faslodex, reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 76%, compared to Faslodex alone in previously treated HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer patients. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. HR+/HER2- breast cancer accounts for about 70% of all breast cancers. The study showed "unprecedented results", Leerink Partners analyst Andrew Berens said. Gedatolisib could become a new standard of care as a second-line treatment in breast cancer, especially in the community settings, Berens said. Celcuity's triple combination treatment helped patients live for an average of 9.3 months without progression of the disease, compared to about two months with Faslodex. Gedatolisib belongs to a class of drugs called PAM inhibitors, which include Novartis' (NOVN.S), opens new tab Afinitor and AstraZeneca's Truqap. Celcuity projects revenue potential of $5 billion for the treatment in the second-line treatment setting. The treatment was better...

Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab said on Tuesday its drug for a type of blood cancer was more effective in a head-to-head study against AbbVie's (ABBV.N), opens new tab Imbruvica when tested in both untreated and previously treated patients. The drug, Jaypirca, was being tested in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma. The disease is characterized by an increased production of abnormal white blood cells that have difficulty fighting infections. These faulty cells can be found in the bone marrow or lymph nodes. Lilly said Jaypirca achieved a higher overall response rate, or the percentage of patients whose cancer shrinks or disappears, compared to Imbruvica, meeting the study's main goal of being non-inferior. A further analysis showing survival of patients without progression of disease — a key secondary goal of the study — is planned, it said. While data on this goal was not mature yet, Lilly said it was trending in favor of Jaypirca being superior. Jaypirca belongs to a class of drugs called reversible BTK inhibitor. BTK is a key target in several B-cell cancers, including mantle cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Lilly's drug is approved for both forms of cancer by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The...

Investors wiped $70 billion off Novo Nordisk's market value on Tuesday after the maker of weight-loss drug Wegovy issued a profit warning and named a new CEO, as it battles rising competition in the obesity drug market. Novo (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab named Maziar Mike Doustdar as its new chief executive, turning to a veteran insider to revive sales and reassure investors rattled by fears the Danish drugmaker is losing ground in the obesity drug race it started. Doustdar's appointment failed to stem a stock market rout sparked by Novo slashing its outlook for 2025 sales growth to between 8% and 14%, from between 13% and 21% previously. Its shares plunged nearly 30% before paring some losses to trade down over 20% by mid-afternoon. The shares are now down 44% this year. "The magnitude of the guidance cut is a shocker," Markus Manns, a portfolio manager at mutual fund firm Union Investment, a Novo shareholder, told Reuters, adding that Novo's issues went deeper than "compounded" copycats to Wegovy. Compounded drugs are custom-made medicines that are based on the same ingredients as branded drugs. Novo has been hit by copycats of its GLP-1 drugs Wegovy for weight-loss and Ozempic for diabetes. U.S. law bars pharmacies...

Novo Nordisk named Maziar Mike Doustdar as its new chief executive on Tuesday, relying on an experienced company insider to revive sales and a share price hit by worries the maker of weight-loss drug Wegovy is falling behind in a race it started. The appointment comes after the abrupt removal in May of CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen by Novo (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab and the Novo Nordisk Foundation - the Danish company's controlling shareholder, and follows a growth warning earlier on Tuesday. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. Shares in Novo Nordisk were down by around 16% following the profit warning and plummeted further following the CEO announcement. Shares were down by as much as 29.8% by 1149 GMT, wiping over 80 billion euros ($92.26 billion) off its market value, though later recovered some ground to be down 20%. Doustdar, an Iranian-born, Austrian national, who grew up in the United States, joined Novo in 1992 and will take on the new role on August 7. Doustdar currently serves as vice president for international operations, a role he took after leading the company's businesses first in the Middle East and then...

A U.S. ban on copycat versions of Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab Wegovy has begun to lift use of the weight loss drug, but the company will need to show more robust growth in the months ahead to bolster market confidence, investors and analysts say. New Wegovy prescriptions have increased by about 33% since May 22, when a U.S. Food and Drug Administration ban on so-called compounded versions of Wegovy took effect, amounting to 181,200 in the week ended July 18, according to data from IQVIA that was shared with Reuters by industry analysts. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. Total Wegovy prescriptions have also increased, narrowing the lead for Eli Lilly and Co's (LLY.N), opens new tab Zepbound. In the week ended May 23, U.S. Zepbound prescriptions exceeded Wegovy by nearly 175,000. By July 18, the gap was about 133,000. Early signs of a shift come at a critical juncture for Novo. After Wegovy's initial stunning success, investor confidence was rattled when Zepbound and compounders started to slow the drug's growth. And then in May, the Danish company cut its full-year sales and earnings forecasts and announced the...

Drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY.N), opens new tab and private equity firm Bain Capital will launch an independent company focused on developing immunology drugs, backed by Bain's $300 million financing round, the companies said on Monday. The new company will work on five experimental drugs licensed from Bristol Myers, including a late-stage lupus treatment and a mid-stage psoriasis drug that has shown promise in trials. Bristol Myers will retain nearly 20% equity in the venture and is set to receive royalties and milestone payments based on the drugs' success. The collaboration allows the drugmaker to concentrate its immunology research on treatments aimed at resetting the immune system while ensuring the continued development of promising assets, the companies said. "These assets have significant potential, and we are confident that this new company will drive their development to ensure greater impact for patients," said Julie Rozenblyum, senior vice president of business development at Bristol Myers. Daniel Lynch, a seasoned pharmaceutical executive, will take on the roles of executive chairman and interim CEO of the new company, while Bristol Myers' chief research officer Robert Plenge is set to join the board alongside Bain Capital partners. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board also participated in the financing round.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical announced on July 25th that its premium botulinum toxin, ‘Nabota,’ has secured an export contract to Kuwait, further strengthening its position in the Middle Eastern market. This deal marks Daewoong’s fifth entry into the Middle East and the fourth within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. After establishing a presence in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, the company is now expanding into Kuwait, reinforcing its influence in the Gulf region’s high-end cosmetic and plastic surgery markets. Kuwait, with a per capita GDP of around $32,000 and a well-developed healthcare system, presents a promising growth opportunity for the healthcare industry. The country’s strong ties with neighboring Gulf nations make it a strategic hub for future expansion across the Middle East. Daewoong plans to use Kuwait as a gateway to supply Nabota throughout the entire GCC market. Currently, Daewoong is the Korean botulinum toxin company with the broadest Middle Eastern reach, leveraging not only product exports but also comprehensive strategies such as medical staff training, academic collaborations, and research initiatives. The company continues to innovate with proprietary techniques like combination procedures and the ‘Naboreift’ program, hosting conferences, webinars, and training sessions to demonstrate the quality and safety of Nabota. Collaborative research with...

Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding (ROG.S), opens new tab plans to investigate whether an experimental medicine can delay or prevent Alzheimer's disease symptoms, it said on Sunday, as a part of the company's growing development programme for the disease. The clinical trial of the drug, Trontinemab, will target people who are at risk of cognitive decline and will aim to delay or prevent the symptoms of Alzheimer's, Roche said in a statement. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here. Trontinemab is designed so that the drug is transported across the blood brain barrier—protective blood vessels that prevent chemicals in the bloodstream from entering the brain — in hopes of delivering more of the treatment to the brain. Rivals like Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab have been making progress in the complicated field of Alzheimer's recently, with Lilly's drug Kisunla getting a recommendation for approval for certain patients from the European Medicines Agency last week. Kisunla is already approved in the U.S. Treatments for Alzheimer's approved so far, including Eisai (4523.T), opens new tab and Biogen's (BIIB.O), opens new tab Leqembi and Lilly's Kisunla, are designed to clear sticky clumps of a protein...