Pharma News

Piramal Enterprises Limited’s Pharma Solutions business, a leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), announced plans to expand its Aurora facility in Canada with the addition of a new state-of-the-art wing dedicated to manufacturing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). A total investment of ~CAD$25 million will be infused towards this expansion.

AbbVie a research-based global biopharmaceutical company, and Allergan (NYSE: AGN), a leading global pharmaceutical company, today announced that Allergan has entered into definitive agreements to divest brazikumab (IL-23 inhibitor) and Zenpep (pancrelipase). These agreements are in conjunction with the ongoing regulatory approval process for AbbVie's acquisition of Allergan.

Veredus Laboratories Pte Ltd a leading provider of innovative molecular diagnostic solutions, announced today the development of VereCoV detection kit, a portable Lab-on-Chip application capable of detecting the Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) i.e. Wuhan Coronavirus, in a single test.

Cue Biopharma, Inc a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engineering a novel class of injectable biologics to selectively engage and modulate targeted T cells within the body, announced today the publication of research demonstrating the ability of its lead biologic candidate CUE-101 to activate tumor antigen specific antitumor immunity in the peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. The manuscript by Steven Quayle et al. is titled “CUE-101, a Novel HPV16 E7 pHLA-IL-2-Fc Fusion Protein, Enhances Tumor Antigen Specific T Cell Activation for the Treatment of HPV16-Driven Malignancies.”

Strides Pharma Science Limited (Strides) announced that its formulation facility at Alathur (Chennai), India underwent a USFDA inspection which concluded with “Zero 483 observations”. This is the second consecutive Zero 483 inspection for the site. The current inspection was a Pre‐Approval Inspection for sustained release class of drugs which is a new dosage format for the facility and is one of the focus areas for the company in the global markets.

PACT Pharma, in pursuit of its vision to eradicate solid tumors using transformational, first-in-class fully personalized NeoTCR-T cell therapies, today announced that it has closed an oversubscribed $75 million Series C financing. This round, led by Vida Ventures, a next generation life science venture firm with industry-leading experience in the cell and gene therapy, also included current investors of PACT.

A National Institutes of Health study found that chronic treatment with mirabegron, a drug approved to treat overactive bladder, activated brown fat in a small group of healthy women and had several other beneficial metabolic effects. Brown fat, or brown adipose tissue, is a form of fat that burns calories to generate heat. The research, led by Aaron Cypess, M.D., Ph.D., at the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), was published on Jan. 21 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Women who breastfed their infants exclusively for seven to 12 months may have a significantly lower risk of early menopause than their peers who breastfed their infants for less than a month, according to an analysis funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study also suggests that pregnancy can reduce the risk of early menopause.

Amazon pharmacy is expanding its working outside US and potentially in India, Canada, U.K. and Australia. Recently, Amazon has filed to trademark “Amazon Pharmacy” in Canada, the U.K. and Australia, signaling a potential move into selling prescription drugs outside of the U.S. reported by CNBC.

As per WHO update (as of 11th January, 2020) in all, 41 cases of Novel Coronavirus have been reported so far from China [including one death (further update is awaited)]. As per WHO risk assessment, the risk for global spread, as of now, remains low.