A vision for data-driven drug development in oncology When Peter Carr, principal software architect of Lantern Pharma, stepped into his full-time role in September 2020, the company was on the cusp of a transformation. While AI had been a focus for a number of years, a fresh infusion of cash provided a possibility of expanding…
A glimpse at Big Pharma’s upper echelon in the first three quarters of 2023
In 2023, demand for GLP-1 receptor agonists such as Lilly’s tirzepatitde and Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide surged just as demand for COVID-19 therapies waned. As a result, Novo Nordisk had 33% growth at constant exchange rates over the first nine months of the year. Similarly, Lilly experienced a 37% jump in revenue in the third quarter,…
Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro sees explosive sales growth, yet demand outpaces supply
Eli Lilly’s diabetes medication Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is seeing explosive sales growth, jumping from $187.3 million in the third quarter of 2022 to $1.4 billion in the same period this year. Conversely, sales of Lilly’s Trulicity, another diabetes drug, have declined, dipping from $1.85 billion in Q3 2022 to $1.67 billion in Q3 2023. Mounjaro is…
How a data lakehouse can give you a panoramic view of your AI-enabled clinical trials
In recent years, the term “data lakehouse” has entered the lexicon of data professionals. For AI-enabled clinical trials, the lakehouse architecture promises seamless integration of diverse data streams, spanning patient health records to real-time sensor data, all processed efficiently and queried in structured formats. The lakehouse architecture aims to provide a comprehensive overview of data,…
Prix Galien Awards: The most innovative biotech, pharma, and orphan drugs of 2023
Prix Galien names 2023 winners in pharma and biotech In the world of medical innovation, few accolades carry as much weight as the Prix Galien Awards, which highlight the advances in biotech, pharmaceuticals, and other domains. The 2023 winners include Bristol Myers Squibb’s Camzyos (mavacamten) as the best biotechnology product and Lilly’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide) and…
Biopharma M&A in 2023 navigates shifting climate with calculated bets on de-risked targets
2023 biopharma M&A trends M&A activity has rebounded to a degree in 2022 and 2023, but deal-making is still below some of the top years in recent decades, including 2011, 2014, and 2015. While M&A remains a fact of life in biopharma, buyers are selective about disease focus areas. Oncology, immunology and obesity/cardiometabolic therapies are…
Biden names 31 tech hubs: Here are 10 relevant to pharma and biotech
Traditionally, the tech and biotech sectors in the U.S. have been concentrated in a handful of regions — most notably in areas such as Boston, Seattle, Silicon Valley and Southern California. But the Biden administration aims to distribute innovation more evenly through the U.S. To that end, the administration has designated 31 tech hubs across…
An overview of the RSV vaccine landscape: GSK aims to extend its approval of Arexvy?
GSK (NYSE:GSK) is aiming to expand the label for its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine Arexvy, which was the first to win FDA approval. The firm is now eyeing an extension of the label to include adults aged 50 to 59, bolstered by encouraging preliminary data from a phase 3 study. The recent data from…
How the latest AI executive order might impact drug development in the U.S.
The White House has released an executive order that contains what it hails as “the most sweeping actions ever taken to protect Americans from the potential risks of AI systems.” Relevant to drug development, a fact sheet on the order describes its aim to help further “the responsible use of AI in healthcare and the…
NKGen Biotech’s SNK01 ‘natural killer’ cell therapy for Alzheimer’s gets FDA nod for clinical trial
Santa Ana, California–based NKGen Biotech has received FDA clearance to begin a phase 1/2a trial for their “natural killer” cell therapy, SNK01, designed to treat Alzheimer’s Disease. The autologous, non-genetically modified natural killer (NK) cell therapy involves extracting a patient’s own cells through a blood draw, and then processing them to enhance their natural abilities…
Quantum leaps in drug discovery? NobleAI joins forces with Microsoft while King’s College London aligns with Kvantify
The word “revolutionize” gets thrown around a lot in describing the potential of emerging technologies. But quantum computing could make good on the promise to disrupt healthcare applications ranging from drug discovery to medical imaging. Theoretically, a quantum computer with 300 quantum bits (qubits) could crunch more calculations in an instant than there are atoms…
A year in review: AI’s evolving role in drug discovery and development in 2023
In the realm of drug discovery, AI is making waves, and 2023 could potentially be a pivotal year for this technology. As the technology enters the popular consciousness, pharma employees are wondering “why they can’t have similar AI-driven tools for their professional tasks,” said Diane Wuest, head of digital R&D at Sanofi, in a recent…
Will GLP-1 drugs transition from obesity and diabetes to diverse clinical indications?
The explosive sales growth of GLP-1 drugs has analysts projecting that the antiobesity drugs could be a $44 billion market by 2030. Some observers are more upbeat, projecting that the sector could be worth more than $100 billion in the coming years. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla projects that the market will reach $90 billion by…
Insilico Medicine taps AI to nominate small molecule inhibitor ISM9274 as a preclinical cancer therapy
Clinical-stage AI company Insilico Medicine has nominated a novel small molecule inhibitor known as ISM9274 as a preclinical candidate for cancer treatment. The company used its PandaOmics AI platform to analyze genomic data from more than 90 tumor types and identified CDK12 as a promising target for multiple cancers including triple-negative breast cancer, lung cancer,…
NLP in drug discovery and the quest for the ‘right’ research elements
In drug discovery and development, data sources are as diverse as they are plentiful. There are comprehensive databases brimming with molecular targets, cellular processes, genomic sequences, proteomic profiles, and metabolite patterns that shed light on disease pathways. Data possibilities in the patient care realm are similarly vast, spanning electronic medical records, imaging datasets, and even…
GLP-1 drug tirzepatide shines in SURMOUNT-3 trial with weight loss of 26.6%
In the phase 3 SURMOUNT-3 trial, tirzepatide recipients saw some of the most impressive weight loss results among trials of GLP-1 drugs, including most notably semaglutide. In the study, participants’ total mean weight loss was 26.6% over 84 weeks following a 12-week intensive lifestyle intervention and subsequent tirzepatide treatment. In all, participants who received tirzepatide…
Mirikizumab shows continued promise for ulcerative colitis after regulatory hiccup
Lilly has announced that its interleukin-23 blocker mirikizumab demonstrated promise in patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) in the ongoing open-label LUCENT-3 extension study. The trial evaluated two-year efficacy and safety of the monoclonal antibody in patients who had previously undergone UC treatments, including biologics, that were ineffective, stopped working, or were…
Guselkumab shows durable benefits in Crohn’s disease in LTE of phase 2 study
The interleukin-23 blocker guselkumab (Tremfya) continues to show promise in treating Crohn’s disease (CD). First winning FDA approval for plaque psoriasis in 2017, guselkumab recently demonstrated robust efficacy and a consistent safety profile in the long-term extension of the GALAXI Phase 2 study for CD. Some 54.1% of patients receiving guselkumab achieved clinical remission by…
Pfizer Ignite: Kathy Fernando’s vision for accelerating biotech innovation
Kathy Fernando, the senior vice president, head of Pfizer Ignite and Pfizer CentreOne, has had a professional trajectory marked by pivotal serendipities. One occurred when attending a seminar at the University of Pennsylvania, where she met Dr. Drew Weissman, a prominent immunologist and RNA vaccine researcher. Weissman, along with Katalin Karikó, recently received the Nobel…
10 major pharma and biotech companies that downsized in 2023
The biopharma industry faced mounting headwinds in 2023, with several major players announcing significant restructuring efforts. Faced with expiring patents, inflation and rising interest rates, and heightened FTC scrutiny, companies looked to trim expenses and refocus their businesses. The ebbing tied of the pandemic posed a challenge for a number of drug developers as well.…
The evolution of drug discovery: Opportunities and obstacles with ML and AI development
The potential for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to reshape drug discovery and development is immense. From expediting learning and driving discoveries to managing large-scale data sets and generating fresh insights, the true scale of AI’s influence on the industry is only starting to be understood. But with great potential comes great responsibility.…
Novo Nordisk stops once-weekly semaglutide kidney outcomes trial early following interim analysis
Novo Nordisk will halt the phase 3b FLOW trial, which investigated the effects of once-weekly injectable semaglutide on kidney outcomes in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). The company reached the decision following the recommendation of the independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC), following an interim analysis that met pre-specified criteria…
Click chemistry breakthroughs drive Shasqi and J&J cancer alliance
In June 2023, the click chemistry-focused startup Shasqi revealed a research pact with Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation. More recently, the company announced that it had expanded the research alliance, furthering work on its intratumorally injected biopolymer, known as SQL70. The collaboration will also apply its clinically validated Click Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer (CAPAC) technology…
Upadacitinib shows promising results in ongoing phase 3 atopic dermatitis studies
AbbVie has shared new efficacy and safety data for Rinvoq (upadacitinib) in adults and adolescents with atopic dermatitis (AD) from a trio of ongoing phase 3 studies. Spanning 140 weeks, these studies sustained the co-primary endpoints of Eczema Area and Severity Index 75 (EASI 75) and validated Investigator’s Global Assessment for Atopic Dermatitis 0/1 (vIGA-AD…
Eli Lilly’s obesity focus helps propel promising 2023
2023 is shaping up to be a blockbuster year for Eli Lilly. With the company’s stock soaring by almost 54% since the beginning of the year, analysts are largely upbeat about Lilly’s expanded focus on obesity and diabetes treatments. While the company has developed insulin for a century, the company is now broadening its horizons…