Novo is best known for the insulins and other diabetes medicines its scientists spent years developing and refining. Deals for drugs invented outside its laboratories are relatively rare, as are agreements focused on diseases other than the metabolic condition.
But Novo has shown an interest in expanding its research into blood disease and cardiovascular treatments, mounting a failed bid for the Belgian drugmaker Ablynx in 2018 and, more recently, acquiring Corvidia Therapeutics and its antibody drug for heart disease.
The deal for Prothena’s PRX004, though a bit further afield, appears to fit into that pattern, giving Novo a mid-stage therapy for a disease that’s receiving more and more attention from drugmakers. READ MORE
By Ned Pagliarulo
Source: biopharmadive.com
Echosens, a high-technology company offering liver diagnostic solutions, and Novo Nordisk A/S, a leading global healthcare company, announced a partnership to advance early diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and increase awareness of the disease among patients, healthcare providers and other stakeholders.
Positive opinion based on Phase 3 ADAPT trial showing efgartigimod provided clinically meaningful improvements in strength and quality of life measures. If approved, efgartigimod will be the first neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) blocker for the treatment of adults in Europe living with rare neuromuscular disease generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG).
Galapagos CEO Paul Stoffels, M.D., has finally taken the plunge on M&A. The newly minted chief executive has signed not one but two deals in an attempt to right the ship, bringing two small biotechs aboard for a combined 239 million euros ($251.4 million).