While teplizumab has the potential to be a new type of diabetes medicine, it’s had a checkered past, and the contingencies in the deal with Sanofi reflect that. In 2010, Eli Lilly and partner MacroGenics were developing the drug and decided to shelve it after a study failed to reduce insulin use in patients with recent-onset Type 1 diabetes.
Provention got interested as continuing academic studies suggested benefits for the drug and bought the rights in 2018. By 2019, the purchase seemed like a good bet as researchers published a study in The New England Journal of Medicine that found the drug could delay the onset of disease with a single 14-day course of treatment.
The trial included 76 relatives of Type 1 diabetes patients who were themselves at high risk of developing the disease. Many of the patients went on to be diagnosed with the condition, but the median time to diagnosis for patients taking teplizumab was four years, compared with two years in the placebo group. READ MORE
By Kristin Jensen
Sourc: biopharmadive.com
CordenPharma announced its largest strategic investment to date, committing to spend ~€900m over the next three years to enhance its peptide technology platform. The planned investment consists of two major expansion initiatives occurring in parallel in the US and Europe, including both existing facilities and new constructions.
DSM-Firmenich has announced the sale of its MEG-3 fish oil business to KD Pharma Group, a contract development and manufacturing organisation that is active in pharmaceutical and nutritional lipids. As part of the transaction, DSM-Firmenich will obtain a minority stake of 29% in KD Pharma’s parent company O³ Holding GmbH.
Veranova, a development and manufacturing of specialist and complex APIs for the pharmaceutica l and biotech sectors, recently announced the appointment of Cécile Maupas as Senior Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer. Cécile will join the executive team and assume responsibility for business development, marketing, project management, commercial operations, and product management.
