Industry News

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced that it has acquired IOmet, a privately-held UK-based drug discovery company focused on the development of innovative medicines for the treatment of cancer, with a particular emphasis on the fields of cancer immunotherapy and cancer metabolism. Under terms of the agreement, Merck, through a subsidiary, will acquire IOmet, including its comprehensive pre-clinical pipeline of IDO (indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase 1), TDO (tryptophan-2,3-dioxygenase), and dual-acting IDO/TDO inhibitors. Based on the transaction, IOmet will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck.

MST–Medical Surgery Technologies Ltd., a leader in the field of advanced image-based robotic technology, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Follow Me™ software designed for minimally invasive robotic surgery. Follow Me™ is an advanced function of MST’s AutoLap®, an image-guided laparoscope positioning system. Powered by MST’s image-based intelligence technology, AutoLap® enables full and natural control of the surgical procedure with minimal user interaction.

AbbVie, a global biopharmaceutical company, announced the start of a large Phase 3 clinical trial program to study the use of ABT-494, an investigational, once-daily, oral selective JAK1 inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This program will include adult patients with inadequate responses (IR) to conventional or biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), as well as methotrexate-naive patients.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new indication for the Integra Omnigraft Dermal Regeneration Matrix (Omnigraft) to treat certain diabetic foot ulcers. The matrix device, which is made of silicone, cow collagen, and shark cartilage, is placed over the ulcer and provides an environment for new skin and tissue to regenerate and heal the wound.

Sanofi and Innate Pharma announced that they have entered into a research collaboration and licensing agreement to apply Innate Pharma's new proprietary technology to the development of innovative bispecific antibody formats engaging natural killer (NK) cells to kill tumor cells through the activating receptor NKp46.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that U.S. Marshals, at the agency’s request, seized nearly 90,000 bottles of dietary supplements labeled as containing kratom. The product, manufactured for and held by Dordoniz Natural Products LLC, located in South Beloit, Illinois, is marketed under the brand name RelaKzpro and worth more than $400,000.

Advinus Therapeutics  has reached the third milestone in its research and development collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. The achievement of this milestone highlights the success of the collaboration.

LivaNova PLC received a Warning Letter dated December 29, 2015, from the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) alleging certain violations of FDA regulations applicable to medical device manufacturers at its Munich, Germany and Arvada, Colorado facilities.

MiMedx Group, Inc., the leading regenerative medicine company utilizing human amniotic tissue and patent-protected processes to develop and market advanced products and therapies for the Wound Care, Surgical, Orthopedic, Spine, Sports Medicine, Ophthalmic, and Dental sectors of healthcare, announced that it has recently posted an updated "Certificate to Foreign Government" on its website that describes all of the MiMedx  sheet form allografts and the Food and Drug Administration FDA's certification that the listed products are HCT/P's.