David Hughes and his team at Novartis (NYSE:NVS) have screened nearly a million compounds to find a few to specifically target the drug-resistant plasmodium parasite that causes malaria. This technique – of throwing hundreds of thousands of drugs through a variety of high-throughput tests and hoping to find the ones that perform well – is common […]
Novartis
Novartis CEO departs, leaving corner office to Harvard doc
Novartis‘ (NYSE:NVS) chief executive Joseph Jimenez is slated to leave his post next February, the drugmaker reported over the weekend. The CEO’s surprise departure leaves the corner office to Dr. Vasant Narasimhan, who currently serves as the company’s CMO and global head of drug development. The move comes just days after Novartis won FDA approval for […]
BioDelivery Sciences president, CEO Sirgo to retire | Personnel Moves – Aug 29, 2017
BioDelivery Sciences (NSDQ:BDSI) said last week that its president & CEO, Mark Sirgo, plans to retire at the end of this year. Sirgo has held the corner office at the Raleigh, N.C.-based company since 2005. He will stay on as vice chairman of the board and will help determine his successor, BioDelivery Sciences reported. “After thirteen […]
Novartis launches MS study using data collected from smartphones
Novartis (NYSE:NVS) said today that it is launching a research study to better understand the daily challenges facing people with multiple sclerosis. The study is designed to collect data from physical tasks and symptoms using participants’ smartphones. The company said it hopes to find new potential ways to measure treatment effectiveness. The elevateMS study, developed with […]
House Dems launch MS drug pricing probe
Democrats from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have sent letters to seven drugmakers as part of an investigation into why prices for multiple sclerosis drugs have nearly quadrupled since 2004. Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Peter Welch (D.-Mass) penned inquiries to Bayer (ETR:BAYN), Biogen (NSDQ:BIIB), EMD Serono, Novartis (NYSE:NVS), Roche (OTC:RHHBY), Sanofi Aventis (NYSE:SNY) and Teva Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:TEVA). […]
Novartis sales down -2% but ahead of estimates in Q2
Shares in Novartis (NYSE:NVS) rose today after the pharmaceutical company met expectations on Wall Street with its second quarter results. The company posted profits of $1.98 billion, or 84¢ per share, on sales of $12.24 billion for the 3 months ended June 30, for bottom-line growth of 9% on sales loss of -2% compared with the […]
FDA panel recommends approval for gene-altering cancer treatment
An FDA advisory panel yesterday recommended approval for Novartis‘ (NYSE:NVS) CAR-T gene therapy. If approved, it would be the first ever treatment of its kind on the market. The panel voted unanimously, 10-0, to recommend that the FDA give its official nod. The company’s therapy genetically alters a patient’s own cells to fight acute lymphoblastic leukemia. […]
FDA approves diagnostic that simultaneously screens for multiple cancer biomarkers
The FDA said today that it awarded premarket approval to Thermo Fisher Scientific‘s (NYSE:TMO) next-gen sequencing-based test that can simultaneously screen tumor samples for biomarkers associated with 3 approved therapies for non-small cell lung cancer. The company’s Oncomine Dx Target Test evaluates 23 genes associated with non-small cell lung cancer. The tests results could help […]
Ocular Therapeutix founder & CEO Sawhney to step down | Personnel Moves – June 23, 2017
The president & CEO of Ocular Therapeutix (NSDQ:OCUL), Amarpreet Sawhney, is slated to step down from the company that he helped start in 2006. He will serve as the board’s executive chairman for 1 year, unless he decides to leave earlier. The company wrote in a regulatory filing that “his service will be automatically renewed for […]
Novartis trial results could spell trouble for Regeneron
Head-to-head late-stage clinical trials published on Tuesday showed that a Novartis (NYSE:NVS) drug to treat patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration doesn’t need to be injected as frequently as a rival drug from competitor Regeneron (NSDQ:REGN). Analysts reportedly said the data gives Novartis’ treatment, RTH258, a competitive edge compared to its rival therapies. The trials showed […]
