Target $88
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Evotec, Celgene Further Expand Collaboration Including New Cell Type
- INCLUDING NEW CELL TYPES SUPPORTS DISCOVERY OF DISEASE-MODIFYING THERAPIES FOR NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES
- TRIGGERS $ 9.0 M PAYMENT TO EVOTEC
Evotec SE (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EVT, MDAX/TecDAX, ISIN: DE0005664809) announced today that its strategic alliance with Celgene Corporation (“Celgene”) has been expanded to include a new cell type triggering a payment of $ 9.0 m to Evotec.
Evotec and Celgene initiated the collaboration in December 2016 to identify disease-modifying treatments for a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases. Since then, the companies have achieved several milestones including advancement of one programme into lead optimisation as well as including additional cell lines and now a new cell type. Currently approved drugs only offer short-term management of the patients’ symptoms and there is a huge unmet medical need for therapeutic modalities that slow down or reverse disease progression in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. The collaboration pursues an innovative approach to the discovery and development of novel medicines by leveraging Evotec’s unique human iPSC technology platform, which is one of the largest and most sophisticated platforms in the industry.
Dr Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec, commented: “Patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases today have limited treatment options, the majority of which only support the management of symptoms but do not address the cause of their disease. With our iPSC platform and Celgene’s expertise, we feel confident to provide physicians with additional treatment options in the future and to deliver disease-modifying treatments to patients.”
Qiagen, DiaSorin to develop Lyme disease test
QIAGEN (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) and DiaSorin (FTSE MIB: DIA) today announced the expansion of their QuantiFERON collaboration to develop an ultra-sensitive diagnostic test for Lyme disease, which is expected to address a significant unmet medical need.
The companies plan multi-site clinical validations during the 2020 Lyme disease season, with regulatory submissions expected at the end of the same year in the United States and Europe. The QuantiFERON technology comes in two components: the QuantiFERON sample collection component with the proprietary assay stimulus/initiation and QuantiFERON read-out component to measure the signal created by the stimulus. The QuantiFERON read-out component of the assay will be run on DiaSorin’s widely used LIAISON family of fully automated analyzers and both components will be designed for use on these platforms.
Lyme disease, also called borreliosis, is an infection caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of blacklegged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and a skin rash called erythema migrans. Left untreated, the Lyme infection can spread to joints, the heart and the nervous system. Lyme disease is most often contracted during the warmer months of the year.
Approximately 30,000 confirmed cases of Lyme disease per year are reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), but the CDC notes that recent estimates suggest about 300,000 individuals may get Lyme disease annually in the U.S. Meanwhile, the latest available ECDC data in Europe showed approximately 35,000 confirmed cases in 2010, but is considered to be significantly underestimated by many experts amid expectations for a significant 100% increase in the spread of this disease in Europe during the last decade.
The current diagnostic algorithm for Lyme diagnosis foresees the use of IgG and IgM detection, produced via B cell immune response, in association with Western Blot as a confirmative tool.
However, there is often a risk for a false negative result due to the fact that patients often visit their doctor very early during the onset of the disease given the appearance of visible signs of the tick bite or the presence of the tick itself, but before the B cell response has not been activated. T cell response, as measured through the QuantiFERON technology, precedes B cell response and has the potential to provide significantly better sensitivity and earlier detection of the infection.
FDA approves Lilly’s migraine drug as first ever cluster headache treatment
Eli Lilly and Co’s migraine treatment Emgality on Tuesday became the first drug to gain U.S. approval for decreasing the frequency of episodic cluster headache attacks, the Food and Drug Administration said.
Emgality belongs to a new class of drugs called CGRP inhibitors that are used to prevent migraines or reduce their frequency. It competes with Ajovy from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Amgen Inc’s Aimovig, all approved within months of each other last year, creating a fierce battle for market share. The approval for a second use could help Lilly differentiate Emgality from its rivals.
Cluster headaches are recurring, intense headaches that can occur several times daily during a “cluster period.” Lilly estimates that around 250,000 people suffer from the condition in the United States.
“Patients haven’t had a lot of other treatment options available, or they have been using stuff that hasn’t been approved and shown great evidence to help with episodic cluster headaches,” Libby Driscoll, vice president of Lilly’s neuroscience business unit, told Reuters.
The great majority of cluster headache cases are episodic, with attacks occurring in periods that can last from seven days to one year, followed by pain-free remission periods of at least one month.
The rest are classified as chronic, with attacks occurring for more than a year without a remission period, or with remission lasting less than a month.
Unlike migraines, which tend to be more prevalent in women, the condition is slightly more common in men.
The injected treatment is administered once a month for the length of a cluster period, which tend to last two weeks to 10 weeks on average. Cluster headache patients will be given a 300 milligram monthly dose, compared with a 120 mg per month dose for migraine prevention.
The drug will be priced the same as for migraine on a per milligram basis, but the cost will vary depending on the length of treatment. Emgality for migraines costs $6,900 a year.
Last month, Lilly said it had pulled ahead of Amgen and Teva in attracting new migraine patients. It is seeking to build on that advantage by stressing that its therapy can completely prevent headaches in a small percentage of patients.
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