Industry News

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved TECENTRIQ® (atezolizumab) for the treatment of people with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have disease progression during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy, and have progressed on an appropriate FDA-approved targeted therapy if their tumor has EGFR or ALK gene abnormalities. This approval is based on results from the randomized Phase III OAK and Phase II POPLAR studies. The largest study, OAK, showed that TECENTRIQ helped people in the overall study population live a median of 13.8 months, 4.2 months longer than those treated with docetaxel chemotherapy (median overall survival [OS]: 13.8 vs. 9.6 months; HR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.63, 0.87). The study enrolled people regardless of their PD-L1 status and included both squamous and non-squamous disease types.

Vedanta Biosciences, pioneering the development of a novel class of therapies for immune and infectious diseases based on rationally designed consortia of bacteria derived from the human microbiome, announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued European Patent EP2575835. The patent broadly covers pharmaceutical compositions of Clostridium live bacterial strains and further expands Vedanta Biosciences’ patent portfolio after the issuances of three U.S. patents in the previous months and earlier issuances in Japan. The patents are exclusively licensed to Vedanta Biosciences under an agreement with the University of Tokyo and provide coverage through at least 2031.

SkylineDx,a commercial-stage biotech company, has received a notice of allowance for a Japanese patent related to its prognostic SKY92 gene signature for multiple myeloma. The announcement comes as SkylineDx prepares to attend the 78th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Hematology (JSH2016) in Pacifico Yokohama, October 13 -15, 2016.

Viamet Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) and Fast Track designations to VT-1161, a novel oral agent for the treatment of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC), or recurrent vaginal yeast infection, a common and difficult to treat condition in women. There are no approved therapies in the United States for RVVC.

Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo)  announced that the first patient has been enrolled in the global phase 3 QuANTUM-First study evaluating the oral FLT3-ITD inhibitor quizartinib in patients with newly-diagnosed  FLT3-ITD-positive (+) acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Researchers have prevented the development of Alzheimer’s disease in mice by using a virus to deliver a specific gene into the brain.  The early-stage findings, by scientists from Imperial College London, open avenues for potential new treatments for the disease. 

Clever Culture Systems AG (CCS), the Swiss based joint venture between Australian medical technology company LBT Innovations Limited (ASX: LBT) and Hettich AG (Switzerland) has received clearance of its 510(k) de novo submission to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for APAS® as a Class II medical device.

Novartis announced data from the phase III COMBI-v study demonstrating an overall survival (OS) and a progression-free survival benefit for patients with BRAF V600 mutation-positive advanced melanoma when treated first-line with the combination of Tafinlar (dabrafenib) + Mekinist (trametinib) compared to vemurafenib monotherapy. The results of this study, which was conducted in 704 patients, are being presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2016 Congress in Copenhagen.

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