NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The investigational drug romosozumab led to gains in hip bone mineral density (BMD) that were not seen with teriparatide in older women with osteoporosis transitioning from bisphosphonate therapy in the STRUCTURE study. Amgen’s romosozumab is a monoclonal antibody that inhibits sclerosin, a negative regulator of bone formation. In addition to stimulating bone…
Highlights from the 2017 EULAR Congress MADRID—The anti-IL6 “nanobody,” vobarilizumab, produced mixed results when used with methotrexate (MTX), compared with MTX and placebo, according to results of a 24-week, double-blind Phase 2b study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which were presented in an abstract session at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR). The…
In drug news, a generic 2% diclofenac sodium solution is now available, denosumab is promising to treat osteoporosis, and the FDA has approved sarilumab to treat adults with RA…
Here’s a trivia question: Where were the big ideas for the field of biotechnology first discussed? Answer: At a since-demolished delicatessen in Waikiki Beach, Hawaii. Go figure. The year was 1972, and Stanley Cohen, MD, professor of medicine at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and Herbert Boyer, PhD, a former professor and biochemist at the…
PARIS (Reuters)—Sanofi announced plans to invest 600 million euros ($673 million) annually over the next two to three years in the field of biologics production, an area of strong growth potential. In contrast to most drugs that are chemically synthesized, many biologics are produced using living cells. They are seen as a promising answer in…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cut the time it will take for copycat versions of biologic drugs to get to the market in a pivotal ruling about an expensive class of medicines that can yield billions of dollars in sales for drug companies. The justices, in a 9–0 ruling, overturned a lower court…