Blog 3: Current Events

One very important event that happened late last month was the possible discovery of a drug that could prevent metastatic cancers.  The drug would work by making the body train special immune system cells that would guard against cancer relapse.  This could have a very large potential impact on the industry as a whole or whichever company ends up getting the patent for this drug.  Cancer is one of the prevalent diseases in the US today and if one company discovered a cure or a better way of treating it the market could be worth tens of billions of dollars.

Another important event that is ongoing is the recall of all lots of Omontys Injections.  The lots are used to treat anemia in adult dialysis patients, however it has been found that there have been over 19 cases of anaphylaxis from patients taking the drugs and three of the cases have resulted in the death of the patient.  Due to this the FDA has had no choice but to issue a recall for the drug to prevent any more cases like this occurring.  This will have a major effect on Affymax, Inc. as it is means that all the research into these drugs was a waste of money.

A collaboration that just comes to light today is the strategic alliance between Merck and Nordic Bioscience on the drug sprifermin, which is used to treat osteoarthritis in the knee. Nordic Bioscience will provide Merck with clinical development services on a “on a shared-risk basis in exchange for a payment structure that includes service fees and potential milestone and royalty payments on the program.”  Currently it looks like the drug is going be successful but by combining with Nordic Bioscience it offers Merck a greater amount of expertise and resources.  Like the development of all new drugs it could be a billion dollar drug line.

http://www.worldpharmanews.com/