Pharma News

Amgen and Merck known as MSD outside the United States and Canada,  announced a cancer immunotherapy collaboration to support a Phase 1b/3 study investigating BLINCYTO® (blinatumomab) in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), which is the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). BLINCYTO is Amgen’s CD19 bispecific T cell engager (BiTE®), and KEYTRUDA is Merck’s anti-PD-1 antibody. The study is an open-label, multicenter, randomized trial to evaluate safety and efficacy in patients with DLBCL.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced that its Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for an investigational, once-daily fixed-dose combination of the nucleotide analog polymerase inhibitor sofosbuvir (SOF) 400 mg and velpatasvir (VEL) 100 mg, an investigational pan-genotypic NS5A inhibitor, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, has been fully validated and is now under assessment by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The data included in the application, which was submitted on November 17, 2015, support the use of SOF/VEL among patients with genotype 1-6 HCV infection, including patients with compensated and decompensated cirrhosis.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation to Trevena's oliceridine (TRV130) for the management of moderate-to-severe acute pain. Oliceridine is being developed as a potential replacement for currently approved intravenous opioid analgesics.

Researchers have developed a new vaccine strategy that reduces the risk of flu infections in cancer patients at highest risk for influenza.

Reduced antibiotic prescribing by doctors is associated with lower patient satisfaction, a Britain-based survey shows.

Consumption of tea, particularly black and green, greatly reduces the risk of cancer in human beings due to the presence of anti-oxidant agents, according to a researcher with a US university.

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Reduced cell density in certain parts of the hippocampus - a brain region that processes and stores memories - may be linked to deficits in short- and long-term memory in people with epilepsy, particularly those with seizures that affect the temporal lobe, new research has found.

Older adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a type of slow-growing blood cancer, may have a better alternative to toxic chemotherapy as their first treatment, results of a phase three clinical trial show.

With diabetes affecting a large section of India's population, the chronic health condition can adversely affect the country's economic growth, experts have warned.