Drug Discovery and Development

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) today announced results from a trial of its HIV vaccine demonstrating a lack of sufficient protection against infection. New Brunswick, N.J.–based Johnson & Johnson’s Imbokodo Phase 2b HIV vaccine clinical trial found that the investigational vaccine regimen did not provide sufficient protection against HIV infection in a 2,600-person population of young…

Signal Rx Pharmaceuticals, Crystec and ADYA are working on a dry powder drug formulation for potentially treating COVID-19-related illness. The three companies’ collaboration for the dry powder formulation of SF2523 covers the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancer and illnesses related to SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. Get the full story at our sister site,…

The FDA today issued approval for Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, making it the first to receive full approval in the U.S. The approval covers the prevention of COVID-19 in individuals 16 years of age and older. The vaccine remains available under FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) for people who are 12 years of age…

Researchers at Purdue University and Houston Methodist Research Institute are touting a novel strategy for developing a tuberculosis (TB) vaccine. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is widely used as a vaccine against TB, but the researchers say it has a variable protection against neonatal and adult pulmonary TB, with protection ranging from 0% to 80% among infants.…

Citing “family health reasons,” Johnson & Johnson’s Alex Gorsky will hand the CEO role over to Joaquin Duato, current vice-chair of the company’s executive committee, at the start of the new year. Gorsky oversaw a near-decade of significant growth at the medtech and pharma giant. His tenure ultimately will be capped off by Johnson &…

The SENS Research Foundation (Mountain View, Calif.), an anti-aging and regenerative medicine nonprofit, has placed the prominent biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey on leave following sexual harassment allegations. The foundation has also retained an independent investigator to review the claims. The accusations come from Celine Halioua, the CEO of veterinary biotech Loyal (San Francisco) and Laura Deming, the…

Flow cytometry is a powerful technology given its ability to analyze the physical and chemical properties of cells and particles. But many laboratories struggle to find space for advanced flow cytometry cell analyzers. BD (NYSE:BDX) has responded to that challenge with its benchtop FACSymphony A1 cell analyzer. BD designed the fluorescence-activated cell analyzer to support…

Reify Health, a company dedicated to shortening clinical trial timelines, announced today that it raised $220 million in a Series C financing round. Coatue Management led the round, with Iconiq Growth and Adams Street Partners joining along with existing investors Sierra Ventures and Battery Ventures. The round brings the company’s valuation to $2.2 billion, according…

Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:INO) shares took a hit this morning on second-quarter results that missed the consensus forecast. INO shares were down more than –11% at $8.53 per share in morning trading today. Get the full story at our sister site, Drug Delivery Business News.

Insilico Medicine (Hong Kong) has entered into an R&D pact with Arvinas (NSDQ:ARVN) to explore applications of Insilico’s AI technology to PROTACs. By regulating protein function, PROTACS can optimize the sensitivity to drug-resistant targets, as an article in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy notes Insilico and Arvinas will partner in designing treatment modalities for current and next-generation…

Merck (NYSE:MRK) announced today that it received FDA approval for Keytruda for treating high-risk, early-stage, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Kenilworth, N.J.-based Merck’s Keytruda anti-PD-1 therapy received approval for use in combination with chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment, then continued as a single agent as adjuvant treatment after surgery, according to a news release. Approval was based…

PerkinElmer (NYSE:PKI) today posted Street-beating second-quarter revenues and announced the $5.3 billion acquisition of BioLegend. The Waltham, Mass.-based company posted profits of $245.9 million, or $2.19 per share, on sales of $1.2 billion for the three months ended July 4, 2021, for a 79.3% bottom-line gain on sales growth of 51.3%. Get the full story at…

Last year, FDA approved the celecoxib oral solution Elyxyb from Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories as an acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults. Formerly known as DFN-15, Elyxyb is a novel selective inhibitor of cyclooxygenase-2. The company received FDA approval for the drug in May 2020. The company formulated the drug as an oral solution…

An accelerated rebound in medical device sales helped drive Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) second-quarter results that topped the consensus forecast. The New Brunswick, N.J.-based company posted profits of $6.3 billion, or $2.35 per share, on sales of $23.3 billion for the three months ended June 30, 2021, for a 73.1% bottom-line gain on sales growth of 27.1%…

Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) announced today that it acquired peptide- and protein-engineering platform developer Protomer Technologies. The potential value of the transaction is over $1 billion, depending on the achievement of future development and commercial milestones. Pasadena, Calif.–based Protomer Technologies develops next-generation protein therapeutics designed to identify and synthesize molecules that can sense glucose or other endogenous…

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced today that it has launched the J&J Centers for Global Health Discovery, a global network of research partnerships to address the world’s health challenges. The first J&J Satellite Center for Global Health Discovery is at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The pharma and medtech giant plans to…

Global investment firm Francisco Partners announced today that it has agreed to acquire Abbott’s STARLIMS informatics product suite for an undisclosed amount. Companies in the life sciences, pharma and biotech, chemical and refining, food and beverage, manufacturing, environmental, public health and forensics sectors have used the STARLIMS suite of products for more than 35 years.…

The Dublin-based pharmaceutical R&D firm APC Ltd has launched a ‘Global Centre of Excellence for Vaccine and Advanced Therapeutic Research and Manufacturing.’ The result of a €25 million investment, the new facility will staff 120 new employees. The facility will have the capacity to produce hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines (including for COVID-19)…

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) announced today that it appointed Alan Sachs to chief medical officer and Karen E. Nelson to chief scientific officer. Sachs served as Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher’s CSO since 2016 and will be succeeded by Nelson as he assumes the newly established CMO position at the company. Both will join the company’s leadership…

Santa Clara, Calif.–based NVIDIA has launched the Cambridge-1, which it hails as “the United Kingdom’s most powerful supercomputer.” Developed with healthcare applications in mind, NVIDIA invested some $100 million in the supercomputer. Initial applications of the Cambridge-1 include using AI to improve drug development, explore the causes of dementia and identify genomic-based disease risk factors.…

Investment firm Carlyle and Inova today announced a long-term funding partnership to accelerate growth, product innovation and M&A activities. Lyon, France-based Inova develops software platforms dedicated to life sciences to enable pharmaceutical and biotech companies to collaborate on workstreams across organizations. Inova touts its flagship product, “Inova Enterprise,” as a collaborative tool used to manage…

Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL) announced that it completed a $292.5 million acquisition of Vigene Biosciences. Rockville, Md.-based Vigene, a gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), develops viral vector-based gene delivery systems, with a primary area of expertise in CGMP viral vector manufacturing for gene therapies and gene-modified cell therapies. Get the full story…

Boston Children’s Hospital announced today that it partnered with ElevateBio for a five-year cell and gene therapy advancement program. The collaborative agreement will seek to advance cell and gene therapy programs originating out of Boston Children’s Hospital with an introduction to Boston Children’s translational research capabilities. Get the full story at our sister site, Drug Delivery Business…

Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) announced today that it plans to invest approximately $476.3 million (€400 million) per year on mRNA vaccine development. Paris-based Sanofi’s intends for its annual investment to go toward a first-of-its-kind vaccine “mRNA Center of Excellence” to accelerate the development and delivery of next-generation vaccines. Approximately 400 employees will integrate end-to-end mRNA vaccine capabilities…

AlloSource (Centennial, Colo.), a central U.S. provider of allograft providers, has founded a separate nonprofit known as Essent Biologics to provide human-derived biomaterials for research. Essent has recently launched a human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) offering for a range of research applications.  “The mission for the nonprofit is to maximize that gift of donation,” said…