Pharma News

For the first time women will now be able to buy progestogen-only oral contraceptive pills without prescription in the UK, increasing choice for women in the ways in which they can access contraception.

Progestogen-only contraceptive pills containing desogestrel will soon be available to buy in pharmacies after a consultation with a pharmacist, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced today. Desogestrel is safe for most women to take and will still be available free of charge from a doctor, from commissioned services and sexual health clinics.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), affects a few children who have been infected with COVID19. Several body organs, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs, become inflamed, threatening the child's life. With medical care, many are cured. Yet, the mechanisms by which the conduction results have remained a mystery until now.

Albany Molecular Research, Inc a leading global contract research, development and manufacturing organization serving the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries announced that it is changing its name to Curia, effective July 12, 2021.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has updated its patient care guidelines to include interleukin-6 receptor blockers, a class of medicines that are lifesaving in patients who are severely or critically ill with COVID-19, especially when administered alongside corticosteroids.

These were the findings from a prospective and a living network meta-analysis initiated by WHO, the largest such analysis on the drugs to date. Data from over 10 000 patients enrolled in 27 clinical trials were considered.

Amgen announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a Biologics License Application (BLA) and granted Priority Review for tezepelumab in the treatment of asthma. Tezepelumab is being developed by Amgen in collaboration with AstraZeneca.

The goal of the trial, known as HIV-CORE 0052, is to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the HIVconsvX vaccine – a mosaic vaccine targeting a broad range of HIV-1 variants, making it potentially applicable for HIV strains in any geographical region.

Thirteen healthy, HIV-negative adults, aged 18-65 and who are considered not to be at high risk of infection, will initially receive one dose of the vaccine followed by a further booster dose at four weeks.

AstraZenecas proposed acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.has achieved an important step towards completion by having cleared the European Commission review.

The clearance follows competition clearances in the United States, Japan and other countries globally, with a complete list available on astrazeneca.com. Regulatory clearance in the UK is pending and remains a requirement to complete the deal.

Merck known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an expanded label for KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, as monotherapy for the treatment of patients with locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) that is not curable by surgery or radiation.

Alvotech, the Iceland-based biosimilar company, announced that the first patient has been dosed in the comparative, confirmatory efficacy and safety clinical study (AVT04-GL-301) for AVT04, Alvotech‘s proposed biosimilar to the reference product Stelara®. The objective of the study is to demonstrate therapeutic equivalence between AVT04 and Stelara® in terms of safety, efficacy and immunogenicity in patients with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis.