Ben Hirschler, Reuters

Austrian biotech company Themis Bioscience said on Tuesday it had started a clinical trial of an experimental Zika vaccine in healthy volunteers, opening up another front in the race to prevent the spread of the mosquito-borne disease. Themis’s product, which is based on measles immunization technology, is the first vaccine containing attenuated, or weakened, live…

Britain’s healthcare cost-effectiveness watchdog NICE said on Tuesday that Bristol-Myers Squibb’s immunotherapy drug Opdivo was not worth using on the state health service for treating head and neck cancer due to its high price. The draft decision from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the latest example of an expensive new…

AstraZeneca’s ovarian cancer drug Lynparza slashed the risk of disease progression in a closely watched clinical trial, boosting its profile against rivals within the novel PARP inhibitor drug class. The British drugmaker hopes the data from the trial will widen the use of Lynparza and help it keep up with competitors racing to broaden the…

Pfizer’s breast cancer drug Ibrance, or palbociclib, is too expensive to justify its use on Britain’s state-run health service, the country’s healthcare cost-effectiveness watchdog said on Friday. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said in draft guidance that although the medicine was likely to offer some improvement in overall survival, this could…

Novartis and Pfizer have won approval for two cancer drugs to be used routinely on Britain’s National Health Service after offering bigger price discounts. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) said on Thursday its draft guidance now recommended Novartis’ Afinitor for certain breast cancer patients and Pfizer’s Xalkori in lung cancer following…

British patients could end up not being able to access modern medicines if there is a “hard Brexit”, a think tank report endorsed by a former Conservative health minister warned on Wednesday. Drugmakers currently use the European Medicines Agency as a one-stop-shop to get drugs licensed across Europe, but Britain is likely to drop out…

Sanofi has struck a collaboration deal with a leading Brazilian research institute to speed development of a Zika vaccine, consolidating the French drugmaker’s position in the race to defeat the mosquito-borne virus. The deal with the Fiocruz public health center follows a tie-up in July between Sanofi and a U.S. Army research institute, which gave…

Pfizer suffered a setback in Britain on Thursday when the Court of Appeal in London ruled against it in a patent case over the use of its $5 billion-a-year drug Lyrica for pain relief. Pfizer said it was disappointed by the decision and would seek a further appeal. Read more. Source: Reuters

French drugmaker Sanofi and its U.S. partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals could win U.S. approval for their keenly awaited new eczema drug dupilumab, seen by analysts as a potential $3 billion-a-year seller, by next March. Sanofi badly needs new products to make up for flagging sales in its diabetes business, where its top-seller Lantus faces growing competition. Read…

The world cannot rely solely on free markets to deliver medicines needed by billions of people in poor countries, so governments should commit to a legally binding convention to coordinate and fund research and development. That’s the conclusion of a major United Nations report, which is bound to stir fierce debate between supporters of the…

British melanoma patients will be the first in Europe to receive a new drug cocktail combining two immunotherapy treatments, following an unusually rapid approval by the country’s healthcare cost agency NICE on Friday. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which decides if therapies are worth using on the state health service, is…