Industry news

• Dual drug nanoparticle could curb chemo resistance

  02 December 2022 Helen Floersh / FierceBiotech

  Chemotherapy has been a mainstay cancer treatment for decades, but it’s hardly a silver bullet. Oncologists deploying the therapy must strike a balance between killing cancerous cells and harming healthy ones, a trade-off that comes with the risk of surviving cancer cells developing ways to shield against it.

• Russia now has its first domestic epilepsy therapy, a drug called Lacosamide PSK

  01 December 2022 GxPnews

  PSK Pharma has launched onto the market Lacosamide PSK (INN lacosamide), Russia’s first domestic antiepileptic drug. This was reported in the company’s press service.

• RDIF and FMBA announced cooperation for joint implementation of healthcare projects

  01 December 2022 GxPnews

  Kirill Dmitriev, Director General of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), and Veronika Skvortsova, Head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA of Russia), signed an agreement on strategic cooperation and joint work on promising investment projects related to the supply of medicines and medical devices. According to the press service of the RDIF, investment projects will ensure the development and improvement of the competitiveness of Russian products and the economy as a whole.

• The future of Alzheimer’s disease research needs solutions that benefit trial patients

  30 November 2022 FiercePharma

  The Alzheimer’s disease (AD) drug development landscape is exciting as of late, with three leading pharma companies expected to share data from their highly anticipated Phase 3 studies at the upcoming Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease conference in late November 2022. Each of the three investigational drugs, Eisai and Biogen’s lecanemab, Roche’s gantenerumab, and Eli Lilly’s donanemab, are monoclonal antibodies that target the reduction of amyloid beta plaques in the brain, which are widely considered to be a principal driver of AD. All of the trials targeted patients with early AD and used a primary endpoint of Clinical Dementia Rating–Sum of Boxes.

• Elusive universal flu vaccine sees success in animals with mRNA tech

  29 November 2022 Helen Floersh / FierceBiotech

  Producing a successful seasonal flu vaccine requires a bit of fortune-telling. Each vaccine can target only up to four different flu viruses, of which there are many. If scientists’ predictions about the season’s predominant strains turn out to be wrong, a lot of time and money is wasted—not to mention that the public may be left unprotected from the flu, which can be dangerous even to the young and healthy.

• The Russian Federation sees an increased share of domestic applicants for drug trials

  29 November 2022 GxPnews

  The share of domestic applicants for clinical trials of drugs in Russia has increased, including within the framework of the import substitution program, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Health of Russia Sergey Glagolev said on Friday.

• NEWS FDA approves first gene therapy for Haemophilia B

  28 November 2022 Catherine Eckford / European Pharmaceutical Review

  Hemgenix, the first gene therapy for adults with Haemophilia B has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

• Investments in the production of Russian substances for medicines may amount to 50 billion rubles

  28 November 2022 GxPnews

  Investments in the production of Russian substances for medicines for 10 plants (to be launched starting from 2023) may amount to 50 billion rubles, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Vasily Osmakov told the media. The statement was made at the interregional economics and energy industry forum in Volgograd.

• Innovation in pharma manufacturing quality systems

  24 November 2022 Dr Eduard Cayón / European Pharmaceutical Review

  Over the last 10 years, there has been an important change of focus in pharma towards biotech products and personalised therapies. These important new treatments are now emerging into manufacturing, with implications for the way that quality is monitored, managed and assured. Dr Eduard Cayón sets out some practical advice.

• Vladislav Shestakov: “The creation of a consortium for chemical raw materials production with state participation will contribute to the achievement of technological sovereignty”

  24 November 2022 GxPnews

  One of the effective tools for achieving technological sovereignty of the domestic pharmaceutical industry may be the creation of a consortium for the production of pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnological raw materials to meet the needs of drug production. State participation is an important condition for the creation of such a structure.