Fiber metabolites produced by the gut microbiome improved immune defenses in several different ways. The gut microbiome ferments dietary fiber, producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) along the way. Read More
Allergan plc, of Dublin, and Gedeon Richter plc, of Budapest, Hungary, provided a clinical and regulatory update on cariprazine, approved by the FDA in September 2015 and marketed as Vraylar in the U.S. for the treatment of manic or mixed episodes of bipolar I disorder and schizophrenia in adults. Read More
Vyriad Inc., of Rochester, Minn., said it entered an exclusive global license agreement with Stinginn LLC for its STING oncolytic virus technology for use in Vyriad's oncolytic virotherapy product candidates for the treatment of advanced-stage cancers. Read More
Gemphire Therapeutics Inc., of Northville, Mich., priced its IPO of 3 million common shares at $10 apiece, below its proposed range of $11 to $13, for proceeds of $30 million. Read More
Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp., of Novato, Calif., reported global net product revenue of $32 million for the second quarter, up 37.3 percent over the same period in 2015, which Raptor attributed to further market penetration in the U.S. and Europe for Procysbi (cysteamine bitartrate delayed-release), approved for orphan disease nephropathic cystinosis. GAAP net loss was $14 million, or 16 cents per share, while non-GAAP net loss was $11.3 million, or 13 cents per share. The firm ended the quarter with cash and equivalents of $124.2 million. Shares of Raptor (NASDAQ:RPTP) closed Friday at $6.89, up 37 cents. Read More
Given the blistering rate at which researchers of all stripes, academic and corporate, are accumulating data on the molecular nature of disease, applying those data in drug discovery efforts is a natural next step. But, even with plentiful data and computing power, multiple roadblocks to reducing the time, costs and productivity of discovery remain. Read More
Editor's note: The term "big data" has captured our imagination – conjuring up visions of supercomputing, that quickly and intelligently examines vast amounts of genomic and clinical trials data, combined with patient records, and returns meaningful and actionable information. BioWorld Insight recently examined how big data will play a defining role in reducing the time and costs of drug discovery. Read More
HONG KONG – A modified version of the revolutionary gene-editing system known as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats – cellular apoptosis susceptibility protein (CRISPR/Cas), allows researchers to perform DNA substitutions without actually cleaving the DNA, according to a new Japanese study led by researchers at the University of Kobe. Read More
One week after reporting outsized interim data on the phase I/II study of BMN 270 – potentially giving the company the inside track in hemophilia A – Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. cruised to record quarterly and first-half revenues of $300.1 million and $536.9 million, respectively. Read More
A "higher cut-point of PD-L1 expression" is probably necessary for a PD-1 monotherapy to work relative to chemotherapy in first-line non-small-cell lung cancer, medical oncologist Matthew Hellman, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, told BioWorld Today. Read More