Pharma News

Novartis announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted accelerated approval to Vijoice (alpelisib) for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients 2 years of age and older with severe manifestations of PIK3CA-Related Overgrowth Spectrum (PROS) who require systemic therapy. Vijoice is the first FDA-approved treatment for PROS, a spectrum of rare conditions characterized by overgrowths and blood vessel anomalies impacting an estimated 14 people per million.

Saladax Biomedical, Inc. (Saladax) is pleased to announce that it has acquired a patent portfolio for antipsychotic drug testing from Janssen Pharmaceutica NV. This intellectual property (IP) portfolio includes 17 patent families and has resulted in 33 U.S. patents and 296 patents in ex-U.S. countries. This IP, along with the current Saladax IP, covers the major antipsychotic drugs that are prescribed worldwide and places Saladax in a premier position in the antipsychotic drug testing field.

Although SARS-CoV-2 has taken the world by storm, it’s not the only coronavirus that can infect humans. But unlike SARS-CoV-2, common human coronaviruses (HCoVs) generally cause only mild disease. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Infectious Diseases have shown that infections with two different HCoVs don’t generate antibodies that effectively cross-react with SARS-CoV-2. So, prior infection with HCoVs is unlikely to protect against COVID-19 or worsen a SARS-CoV-2 infection through antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), the researchers say.

Clinician-scientists in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai developed a clinical algorithm that, for the first time, distinguishes between treatable sudden cardiac arrest and untreatable forms of the condition.

The findings, published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Clinical Electrophysiology, have the potential to enhance prevention of sudden cardiac arrest unexpected loss of heart function—based on key risk factors identified in this study.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for older people and certain immunocompromised individuals. The FDA previously authorized a single booster dose for certain immunocompromised individuals following completion of a three-dose primary vaccination series. This action will now make a second booster dose of these vaccines available to other populations at higher risk for severe disease, hospitalization and death.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals Limited has acquired the balance 40 percent stake in Aleor Dermaceuticals Limited from its JV Partner Orbicular Pharmaceutical Technologies Private Limited to strengthen its skin-related manufacturing and marketing footprint. Aleor has product offerings across Cream, Gel, Ointment, Shampoo, Lotion, Solutions, Sprays, Foams, Microsponge and Nanoparticulate platform-based products.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government of India today signed an agreement to establish the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine. This global knowledge centre for traditional medicine, supported by an investment of USD 250 million from the Government of India, aims to harness the potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern science and technology to improve the health of people and the planet.

Researchers at the George Washington University published findings from the world’s largest cohort study showing that hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19 who were given aspirin early on in their treatment had a lower risk of dying compared to patients who were not given aspirin.

University of Notre Dame researchers have discovered another way tumor cells transfer genetic material to other cells in their microenvironment, causing cancer to spread.