Industry News

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the Board of Directors has increased the company’s quarterly dividend to $0.46 per outstanding share of the company’s common stock, up $0.01 from $0.45 per outstanding share paid last quarter. Payment will be made on Jan. 8, 2016, to stockholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 15, 2015.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new indication for BioThrax (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed) to prevent disease following suspected or confirmed exposure to Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax disease. The vaccine’s new use is approved for people 18 through 65 years of age in conjunction with recommended antibiotic treatment. BioThrax was initially approved by the FDA in 1970 for the prevention of anthrax disease in persons at high risk of exposure.

Amgen  announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted conditional marketing authorization for BLINCYTO® (blinatumomab) for the treatment of adults with Philadelphia chromosome-negative (Ph-) relapsed or refractory B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

AstraZeneca  announced that it has entered into an agreement with Perrigo Company plc for the divestment of US rights to Entocort® (budesonide), a gastroenterology medicine for patients with mild to moderate Crohn’s disease, an area of medicine outside AstraZeneca’s strategic focus.

The European Commission (EC) has approved Novartis' Cosentyx (secukinumab) for the treatment of people living with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). For AS, this is the first new treatment advance in 16 years since the development of the current standard of care, anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration  approved Opdivo (nivolumab) to treat patients with advanced (metastatic) renal cell carcinoma, a form of kidney cancer, who have received a certain type of prior therapy.

Amgen announced the European Commission (EC) granted marketing authorization for Kyprolis® (carfilzomib) in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy. Kyprolis is the first irreversible proteasome inhibitor approved in the European Union (EU) for use in combination treatment of patients with relapsed multiple myeloma

AstraZeneca, a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business, announced three new partnerships that will deliver industry-leading technologies to drive the AstraZeneca MRC UK Centre for Lead Discovery in the search for novel small molecule medicines. The partnerships will ensure state-of-the-art screening and compound management at the facility, which will be located within the company’s new global R&D centre at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. It will screen around 2 million chemical structures per target to find new compounds for disease targets.

China's plastic surgery industry is set to become the world's third largest by the end of this year with a valuation of 400 billion yuan ($62.6 billion) and is expected to double in size by 2019.

Vital Therapies Inc, a biotherapeutic company developing ELAD, a cell-based therapy targeting the treatment of liver failure, announced that it has received written responses from the US FDA to its Type C meeting request on the planned VTL-308 phase 3 clinical trial.