J&J Maintains Top Pharma Brand Ranking Despite Industry Downturn

 For the fifth year in a row, Johnson & Johnson is the pharma industry’s most valuable company and its strongest brand, despite sustaining an approximately 5% drop in brand value, according to the Healthcare 2023 report from consultancy Brand Finance.

With a nearly $12.8 billion brand value, J&J beat out all other big pharma companies by a wide margin. Roche came in second place at almost $8.5 billion, while Pfizer trailed third at $6.2 billion. Despite keeping their spots as the industry’s top trifecta, all three companies took notable hits in their brand values from last year. In 2022, J&J was valued at nearly $13.4 billion, Roche at more than $8.9 billion and Pfizer at a little more than $6.3 billion.

These declines are in line with “a broader industry trend that has impacted many of the largest pharmaceutical brands in 2023,” Brand Finance wrote in its summary analysis of this year’s ranking. “Across the 25 pharma brands included in this ranking there was an average 2% reduction in brand value year-on-year.”

Six companies in Brand Finance’s top 10 list posted lower valuation this year than in 2022. Most notably, AbbVie went from a little more than $5 billion last year to nearly $3.9 billion in 2023. The company fell from sixth place in 2022 to tenth place this year, nearly dropping out of the top 10.

Bucking this trend, however, is Merck which claimed the fourth spot in Brand Finance’s 2023 ranking, up from seventh place in 2022. Last year, the company had a brand value of approximately $4.6 billion, which jumped around 25% to reach nearly $5.8 billion this year.

Lilly and Sanofi also saw year-on-year improvements. The Indiana pharma broke into the top 10 by growing its value from almost $3.4 billion in 2022 to nearly $3.9 billion this year. Meanwhile, the French drugmaker saw a 2% bump, from a little more than $4 billion last year to more than $4.1 billion in 2023.

The industry’s highest-growth companies, however, were not in the top 10. CSL, which ranked 21st, saw a 32% increase in its brand value, which sat at $1.3 billion this year. According to Brand Finance, the company’s buyout of Vifor Pharma, launch of its hemophilia B gene therapy Hemgenix (etranacogene dezaparvovec-drlb) and overall expansion of its immunoglobulin portfolio contributed heavily to this growth.

Novo Nordisk, whose brand value jumped 31% to $3.1 billion this year, is just behind CSL as the second-fastest growing company. This was driven by the company’s strong promotion and higher production of Wegovy and Ozempic, its best-selling weight-loss treatments.

https://www.biospace.com/article/j-and-j-maintains-top-pharma-brand-ranking-despite-industry-downturn-/

Bausch + Lomb Buys J&J’s Dry Eye Drops for $106.5M in Expansion of OTC

 To boost its over-the-counter eye care efforts, Bausch + Lomb has acquired eye and contact lens drops under Johnson & Johnson Vision’s Blink product line, the Canadian company announced Thursday.

Bausch + Lomb will pay $106.5 million in cash and receive various Blink products, including the Tears, GelTears and Triple Care lubricating eye drops, as well as the Blink-N-Clean lens drops. The Blink line is designed to provide immediate and durable symptom relief, according to the company’s news announcement.

Johnson & Johnson Vision is a subsidiary company of J&J consisting of two divisions—J&J Surgical Vision and J&J Vision Care—along with its affiliates.

“There’s a growing need for relieving the symptoms of dry eyes and dry contact lenses,” John Ferris, Bausch + Lomb’s executive vice president for consumer, said in a statement, adding that consumers often turn to OTC products first before seeking prescription treatments.

Bausch + Lomb’s Blink buy follows a much larger deal announced last week. The eye care company will buy Novartis’ dry eye drug Xiidra (lifitegrast ophthalmic solution) for $1.75 billion in an upfront cash payment, along with the promise of $750 million in potential milestones. The deal also covers rights to the AcuStream delivery device for dry eye indications, as well as investigational treatments for chronic ocular surface pain.

Approved in 2016, Xiidra is the first medicine authorized by the FDA to treat dry eye disease. The drug is a small molecule antagonist of the LFA-1 integrin, expressed on T cells and which interacts with ICAM-1, a protein typically over-expressed in dry eye disease. This mode of action allows Xiidra to ease the inflammation that gives rise to this condition.

Xiidra was originally developed by Shire, which was bought by Takeda in March 2018. Novartis then acquired the rights to Xiidra in July 2019 for $3.4 billion upfront and up to $1.9 billion in potential milestones. In 2022, Xiidra made Novartis $487 million in sales.

The acquisition of Novartis’ Xiidra and J&J’s Blink product line are only Bausch + Lomb’s latest wins in the dry eye space.

In May 2023, the FDA approved the company’s Miebo (perfluorohexyloctane ophthalmic solution) for the treatment of dry eye disease symptoms. Bausch + Lomb developed Miebo in partnership with Novaliq. Delivered as a single drop into each eye four times a day, Miebo works by forming a thin layer over the tear film, which helps limit the drying of the ocular surface.

Miebo is the first and only FDA-approved drug that directly addresses tear evaporation in dry eye disease, Bausch + Lomb CEO Brent Saunders said in a statement at the time.

https://www.biospace.com/article/bausch-lomb-buys-j-and-j-s-dry-eye-drops-for-106-5m-in-expansion-of-otc-business/

Thermo Fisher Scientific to Acquire CorEvitas

 Advances World-Class Clinical Research Capabilities with Leading Regulatory-Grade Registries Platform

Expected to Be Immediately Accretive to Adjusted Earnings Per Share1

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) ("Thermo Fisher"), the world leader in serving science, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire CorEvitas, LLC ("CorEvitas"), a leading provider of regulatory-grade, real-world evidence for approved medical treatments and therapies, from Audax Private Equity ("Audax"), for $912.5 million in cash.

Real-world evidence is the collection and use of patient health outcomes data gathered through routine clinical care. This is a high growth market segment as pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers, as well as regulating bodies, are increasingly looking to monitor and evaluate the safety of approved therapies and examine their effectiveness and value in the post approval setting.

CorEvitas, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, with operations focused in the U.S., provides regulatory-grade, real-world evidence solutions to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with objective data and clinical insights to improve patient care and clinical outcomes. CorEvitas manages 12 registries, including nine autoimmune and inflammatory syndicated registries. Its multi-therapeutic data intelligence platform builds and scales multiple clinical registries across specific therapeutic areas to gather structured patient clinical data spanning more than 400 investigator sites and over 100,000 patients followed longitudinally.

CorEvitas has been a partner to pharma and biotech customers for more than 20 years. With approximately 300 employees, operational momentum and strong leadership, CorEvitas is well positioned to grow its revenue organically in the low double digits, with expected revenue of $110 million in 2023.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thermo-fisher-scientific-acquire-corevitas-120000710.html

Curis partial hold lifted in leukemia study

  Curis, Inc., (Nasdaq: CRIS), a biotechnology company focused on the development of emavusertib, an orally available small molecule triple target inhibitor (IRAK4, FLT3 and CLK) for the treatment of hematologic malignancies, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has removed the partial clinical hold on the TakeAim Leukemia Phase 1/2 study of emavusertib. Further, the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) for emavusertib as a monotherapy has been established at 300 mg BID in patients with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) or Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS).

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fda-removes-partial-clinical-hold-120100409.html

What's going on with Aslan

 ASLAN Pharmaceuticals Ltd 

ASLN-21.5%+ Free Alerts

 released topline data from its TREK-AD Phase 2b dose-ranging study of eblasakimab in adult patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD).

Eblasakimab met the primary endpoint of percent change from baseline in the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) score at week 16 versus placebo with statistical significance in three dosing arms: 600mg dosed once every four weeks (600mg Q4W), which was numerically the best-performing arm, 400mg dosed once every two weeks (400mg Q2W) and 300mg dosed once every two weeks (300mg Q2W).

600mg eblasakimab dosed once every four weeks in the TREK-AD study met the primary endpoint with statistical significance, with 62.7% of patients achieving EASI-75, 34.1% reaching EASI-90 and 31.2% achieving vIGA-AD of 0 or 1.

Regimens dosing once every two weeks also met the primary endpoint with statistical significance, as well as meeting key secondary endpoints.

The company said eblasakimab 400mg Q4W dosing arm did not meet the primary or secondary endpoints with statistical significance.

Further data from the Phase 2b study is expected in Q4 2023. ASLAN plans to meet with the FDA for an end-of-Phase 2 meeting and expects to initiate a Phase 3 clinical development program for eblasakimab in 2024. 

The company is also conducting the TREK-DX study of eblasakimab in dupilumab-experienced patients and expects to announce topline data from that study in 1Q 2024.

ASLN shares were down by almost 14% in the premarket at one point. It has recovered from the losses since.

https://www.benzinga.com/general/biotech/23/07/33131900/whats-going-on-with-aslan-pharmaceuticals-stock-today

Kazia fast tracked for TREATMENT OF SOLID TUMOR BRAIN METASTASES

 Kazia Therapeutics Limited (NASDAQ: KZIA; ASX: KZA), an oncology-focused drug development company, is pleased to announce that its lead program, paxalisib, has been awarded Fast Track Designation (FTD) by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of solid tumor brain metastases harboring PI3K pathway mutations in combination with radiation therapy.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kazias-paxalisib-receives-fast-track-110000913.html

Caribou: $25 Million Equity Investment from Pfizer

 Pfizer purchases $25 million of Caribou common shares --

-- Sriram Krishnaswami, PhD, vice president and development head, multiple myeloma, Pfizer Global Product Development, has joined Caribou’s Scientific Advisory Board --

Caribou Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRBU), a leading clinical-stage CRISPR genome-editing biopharmaceutical company, today announced that Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) has made a $25 million equity investment in the company. Pfizer purchased 4,690,431 of Caribou common shares at a price of $5.33 per share, pursuant to the terms of a Securities Purchase Agreement dated June 29, 2023. The purchase by Pfizer closed on June 30, 2023. In conjunction with the investment, Sriram Krishnaswami, PhD, has joined Caribou’s Scientific Advisory Board.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/caribou-biosciences-announces-25-million-120000433.html