Sentien Biotechnologies said today that it closed a $12 million Series A financing round, co-led by Boehringer-Ingelheim Venture Fund USA, Inc. and BioInnovation Capital. Chiesi Ventures, MBL Venture Capital Co. and Mass Medical Angels also contributed to the round. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said it plans to use the funds for initial clinical development of […]
More trouble for United’s Remodulin
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled yesterday that the claims of United Therapeutics‘s (NSDQ:UTHR) patent, which covers Remodulin, are unpatenable due to obviousness. SteadyMed (NSDQ:STDY) challenged the patent in October last year. The patent, No. 8,497,393, relates to the process to purify prostacyclin derivatives, including treprostinil, which is […]
Reva Medical wins CE Mark for Fantom bioresorbable scaffold
Reva Medical (ASX:RVA) said yesterday that it won CE Mark approval in the European Union for its Fantom sirolimus-eluting bioresorbable coronary scaffold. The Fantom scaffold is the San Diego, Calif.-based company’s 1st commercial product. Reva said it plans to begin selling the product in Europe this quarter. “CE Mark approval for Fantom is a major milestone for […]
EpiPen purchasers level class action against Mylan over price hikes
Mylan (NSDQ:MYL) was hit with another class action lawsuit over the price of its EpiPen device yesterday. The lawsuit, which was filed in the Washington Western District Court, alleges that Mylan engaged in a scheme with pharmacy benefit managers to dominate the market and overcharge customers. Although the Canonsburg, Penn.-based company has been hit with several lawsuits […]
Senseonics draws 3rd $5m tranche for implantable CGM
Senseonics (NYSE:SENS) said last month that it drew the 3rd installment of $5 million under its term loan facility with Oxford Finance and Silicon Valley Bank. The 3rd tranche, which closed on March 29 this year, was triggered by the 1st sale of the Germantown, Maryland-based company’s 2nd-gen transmitter in Europe. Senseonics previously borrowed $20 million […]
Researchers mimic bee venom strategy to help drugs get past blood-brain barrier
Researchers from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain said yesterday that they have shown in preclinical tests that a bee-venom peptide, apamin, can be used to ferry medications across the blood-brain barrier. Although the blood-brain barrier prevents most things from getting in and flooding the brain, certain peptides in animal venoms can travel […]
Sanofi boasts observational hypoglycemia rates for Toujeo insulin injection
Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) touted real-world clinical data for its Toujeo insulin glargine injection from a new observational study. The data from Deliver 2 showed that patients with Type II diabetes who switched to Toujeo from other basal insulins had significantly lower risk of hypoglycemia without compromising blood sugar control. The Deliver 2 study analyzed electronic medical […]
Novocure touts long-term data for Optune, chemo combination therapy for glioblastoma
Shares in Novocure (NSDQ:NVCR) jumped nearly 50% today after the company touted 5-year data today from the Phase III pivotal EF-14 trial evaluating its Optune device with temozolomide chemotherapy as a treatment for newly-diagnosed glioblastoma. Data from 695 patients showed a consistent and maintained improvement in overall survival at 2, 3, 4 and 5 years, […]
United delays Remosynch launch until 2018
Shares in United Therapeutics (NSDQ:UTHR) fell -7% this morning to $126.17 apiece after the company said that the U.S. commercial launch of Remosynch, Medtronic‘s (NYSE:MDT) implantable infusion pump for Remodulin, will be delayed until 2018. “United Therapeutics’ commitment to bringing better therapies to patients transcends temporary delays or setbacks,” United chairman & CEO Martine Rothblatt said in […]
EpiPen manufacturer expands recall to U.S.
Mylan (NSDQ:MYL) said last week that its manufacturing partner, Meridian Medical Technologies, expanded an EpiPen recall to include the U.S. and other markets. The move comes 1 week after Mylan recalled 81,000 EpiPen devices in countries outside the U.S. following 2 reports that the allergy auto-injector failed to work in emergency situations. “While the number of reported […]