ZURICH (Reuters)—Novartis AG has struck a $170 million alliance with U.S.-based Surface Oncology as it seeks to boost its portfolio of medicines that help the body’s immune system fight cancer. The accord, which it announced on Monday, gives Novartis access to four pre-clinical programs aiming to help prevent tumors from evading the immune system, including…
Biosimilars Seek Regulatory Approval in the U.S. & Europe; Plus MTX Underused in the U.S.
In Europe, an etanercept biosimilar is getting closer to being approved to treat RA and more, and in the U.S., an application for an adalimumab biosimilar has been submitted for FDA approval. Also, an analysis of methotrexate use in the U.S. shows that therapy may actually be underused for RA…
New Blood Thinner ‘Antidote’ to Help Doctors Move Past Warfarin
NEW YORK (Reuters)—A new class of blood thinners that competes with widely used warfarin should get a boost next year when an “antidote” that can reverse the medications’ effects in an emergency is expected to enter the market, according to top U.S. heart doctors and investors. Xarelto, from Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson, and…
More Evidence Biomarkers Predict RA Relapse with DMARD Taper
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—For rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in stable remission, a panel of inflammatory markers in blood can help predict the odds of relapse when disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy is tapered, say researchers from Germany. The multibiomarker disease activity (MBDA) score, when combined with anticitrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) testing, can predict relapse in…
Methotrexate for Ulcerative Colitis Yields Mixed Results
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Parenteral methotrexate was no better than placebo for achieving steroid-free remission of ulcerative colitis (UC) in the METEOR trial. But the drug should not be abandoned in all UC patients, researchers say. “Although METEOR failed to reach its primary endpoint, an important secondary endpoint was met. Our study suggests that methotrexate should…
Biologic DMARDs Prove Effective for Psoriatic Arthritis & Combination DMARDs Show Promise for RA
In clinical trials, ixekizumab and adalimumab proved safe and effective in treating adults with active psoriatic arthritis. Also, the combination therapy of certolizumab pegol plus methotrexate was more effective than placebo for treating severe RA…
NIH-Funded Trials Dip While Industry Trials Are on the Rise
(Reuters Health)—Every year since 2006 in the U.S., the number of clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has gone down, while the number of industry-funded trials has gone up, a new study shows. Analyzing the ClinicalTrials.gov database, researchers found that after trial registration became a requirement for publication in major scientific…
Combo Drug for Arthritis & Hypertension Meets Goal in Phase 3 Study
(Reuters)—Kitov Pharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd. said on Tuesday its lead drug, KIT-302, met the main goal of a late-stage study, reducing pain without increasing the risk of heart diseases in patients with osteoarthritis. Israel-based Kitov says its drug does not need to be labeled with health warnings, but will instead say it reduces the risk of…
New SLE Drug May Allow Patients to Reduce Steroid Use
In a recent study, the use of anifrolumab in SLE patients was shown to be safe and effective, enabling some patients to decrease their oral steroids. Also, secukinumab has been approved in Europe to treat ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis…
Drug Approvals Top 2014 High, but R&D Returns Still Struggle
LONDON (Reuters)—The number of new drugs approved in the U.S. this year has already topped last year’s 18-year high, yet large pharmaceutical companies are still struggling to get a decent return on their research dollars. In fact, returns on research and development (R&D) spending by the world’s top drug makers have fallen to just 4.2%,…
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