Novo Nordisk has hired AstraZeneca’s head of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases to head its biopharma business, which has been struggling with declining sales and a failed acquisition.
Ludovic Helfgott will replace Jesper Brandgaard, who resigned as CFO earlier this year, when he retires in April next year after 20 years at the Danish company.
Novo, best known for its diabetes drugs, is on the hunt for promising assets to boost its struggling blood products business after it lost out to French rival Sanofi in the chase for Belgian biotech company Ablynx in January.
Novo’s biopharmaceutical business, which saw sales fall 16 percent last year, comprises its haemophilia and human growth hormone franchises.
By Stine Jacobsen
Source: Reuters
Researchers from University College London (UCL) have revealed that slow brain waves that occur during sleep could protect against increased brain excitability in patients living with epilepsy. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers placed electrodes in 25 patients living with focal epilepsy to localise abnormal activity and inform surgical treatment.
StabiCaps gelatin formulation enhances the release of active ingredients, including medications. In May 2022, the Darling Ingredients brand also received a patent from the European Patent Office for StabiCaps for all major European countries.
In a move to participate in the race for anti-obesity drugs, Swiss pharma giant Roche has agreed to acquire Carmot Therapeutics, a privately owned US company based in Berkeley, California. Carmot’s R&D portfolio includes clinical stage subcutaneous and oral incretins with the potential to treat obesity in patients with and without diabetes, as well as a number of preclinical programs.
