Articles By Marcus Johnson

1. Galderma's Skin Disease Drug Granted Orphan Drug Designation 7/7/2014

   Galderma has announced that the FDA has granted the company’s trifarotene molecule Orphan Drug Designation status.

2. Roche's New Asthma Drug Deemed Promising 7/7/2014

   Roche has created a new drug in order to treat patients suffering from asthma. The drug, an experimental antibody, is called quilizumab. In mid-stage trials, quilizumab has shown promise in treating the breathing disorder.

3. No Cancer Risk From IVF Drugs, Study Shows 7/3/2014

   A study conducted by the University of Illinois at Chicago found that women who used ovary-stimulating hormones for fertility treatment had no greater cancer risk than women who didn’t use the drugs—findings that go against the results of a number of previous studies indicating that women who used such IVF drugs were putting themselves at greater risk of developing cancer. Scientists have often expressed concern because human menopausal gonadotrophins and follicle stimulating hormone, the two IVF drugs used to stimulate the ovaries, produce higher levels of estradiol and progesterone. Higher levels of those hormones are also associated with the development of breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers.

4. Agenus Brain Cancer Vaccine Increases Rate Of Survival 7/3/2014

   Agenus has announced the results of its brain cancer vaccine trial for patients who were diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM. The researchers found that patients who received the Agenus’ Prophage autologous cancer vaccine as a portion of their treatment were able to live for twice as long as previously expected. GBM is expected to kill patients within one year, but 50 percent of patients who were treated with the Agenus vaccine lived for two years. One third of patients lived past the two year mark and are still being monitored.

5. Roche And Bind Therapeutics Announce Nanomedicine Collaboration 7/1/2014

   Roche and Bind Therapeutics have announced a new research collaboration to discover new treatments for diseases outside of oncology.

6. Researchers Unlock Potential New Method To Fight Antibiotic-Resistant TB 7/1/2014
   Researchers at Oregon State University are working with Indian scientists in order to develop an antibiotic-resistant TB treatment. The researchers, which were from Oregon State University, the University of Delhi, and the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in India, have announced the successful modification of a precursor to a TB drug, which they believe is the first step to overcoming antibiotic resistance problems in regards to the disease.
7. EU Recommends Avastin For Treating Ovarian Cancer 7/1/2014

   Roche has announced that the European Union’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has made a recommendation of approval for Avastin (bevacizumab) in combination with traditional chemotherapy for ovarian cancer that is resistant to platinum-containing chemotherapy.

8. Low Doses Of Aspirin May Significantly Reduce Pancreatic Cancer Risk 6/30/2014
   Researchers at Yale University have determined that low doses of Aspirin can reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer by as much as 50 percent. The researchers followed patients taking the drug for several years in an attempt to prevent cardiovascular disease. The researchers found that those taking low dose aspirin for three years prior to the start of the study had reduced their risk of developing pancreatic cancer by 48 percent, while those who had started taking aspirin 20 years prior to the start of the study reduced their risk by 60 percent.
9. Intas Pharma Introduces Affordable MDS And AML Drug In India 6/27/2014

   India’s Intas Pharma has announced that it is introducing an affordable Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) and Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) drug. The drug, Azadine, is priced at one fifth of the innovator brand, Azacitidine. Azadine is currently being manufactured at Intas Pharma’s SEZ facility, which is located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Intas Pharma priced the drug with the hopes of making it affordable for the majority of patients who required treatment. MDS is a bone marrow cancer in which abnormal cells become plentiful in the bone marrow or in the blood. In the long term, MDS can lead to AML, a blood cancer.

10. Abbott Announces Deal To Purchase Pharma Manufacturer Veropharm 6/26/2014

    Abbott Laboratories has announced that it has agreed to purchase Russian based Veropharm, a pharmaceutical manufacturer with a portfolio of more than 100 drugs. Veropharm has 3 different manufacturing plants throughout the country. The deal is for between $395 and $495 million, with Abbott Laboratories also assuming a debt load of $136 million.