Pharma News

China's plastic surgery industry is set to become the world's third largest by the end of this year with a valuation of 400 billion yuan ($62.6 billion) and is expected to double in size by 2019.

Taking vitamin D supplements does not reduce the number or severity of cold in asthma patients, suggests new research.

Prescribing antibiotic doses once or twice a week for tuberculosis (TB) treatment are more likely to lead to drug resistant strains than daily antibiotic regimens, new research has found.

Researchers have discovered a compound that accelerates diabetic wound healing, which may open the door to new treatment strategies.

Vital Therapies Inc, a biotherapeutic company developing ELAD, a cell-based therapy targeting the treatment of liver failure, announced that it has received written responses from the US FDA to its Type C meeting request on the planned VTL-308 phase 3 clinical trial.

Eli Lilly and Company and Merck  known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced the extension of an existing collaboration to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the combination of Lilly's ALIMTA® (pemetrexed for injection) and Merck's KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in a pivotal Phase III study in first-line nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The study will be sponsored by Merck and will be open to patients with NSCLC in the first-line setting, regardless of PD-L1 status. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed.

In one of the biggest deals in the medical world, US-based global drug major Pfizer Inc announced acquiring leading Irish pharma firm Allergan plc for a whopping $160 billion.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval for Ninlaro (ixazomib) in combination with two other therapies to treat people with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy. Ninlaro is marketed by Takeda Pharmaceuticals based in Osaka, Japan.

Pfizer Inc. announced that PROFILE 1029, a Phase 3 study of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor XALKORI® (crizotinib), met its primary objective of significantly prolonging progression-free survival (PFS) in previously untreated East Asian patients with ALK-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) when compared to a standard chemotherapy doublet. In this study, XALKORI was used as the first systemic therapy for patients with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC, and patients could have received therapy and/or surgery for early stage disease before they were diagnosed with metastatic disease.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Pfizer announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted avelumab*, an investigational fully human anti-PD-L1 IgG1 monoclonal antibody, Breakthrough Therapy designation for the treatment of patients with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) who have progressed after at least one previous chemotherapy regimen. Breakthrough Therapy designation is designed to accelerate the development and review of medicines that are intended to treat a serious condition, and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the therapy may demonstrate a substantial improvement over current available therapies.