Biogenerics: The bad arguments just won’t stop
It’s always fascinating to see just how entitled biotechnology investors feel about the outsized rewards the industry bestows whenever one of their long-shot companies finally strikes it rich — not to mention how thoroughly that sense of entitlement seems to muddle their thinking.
Case in… Continue Reading
Biotech’s double standard on biogenerics
(UPDATED: See below.)
Yesterday, the WSJ Health Blog cited a WSJ story as evidence that “biogenerics” — that is, generic versions of biotech drugs, which currently don’t exist — need to be treated with caution. Unfortunately, that post missed a much more important point about biogenerics: The… Continue Reading
Horizon Therapeutics: Combining generic pain meds for greater drug safety
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Horizon Therapeutics, a biotech that aims to combine existing generic drugs to fight pain, raised $30 million in a third funding round. The company’s lead drug candidate, known only as HZT-501, is a “proprietary” combination of the generic drugs ibuprofen and famotidine,… Continue Reading
Roundup: Biogenerics bill in limbo, clashing data on health IT benefits, the RNAi boom, and more
House-Senate confrontation set over biogenerics – Late last month, a key group of senators reached agreement on legislative provisions that would authorize copycat versions of biotech drugs, which are typically complex proteins manufactured by genetically engineered cells (see details here and here). These provisions would finally… Continue Reading
Roundup: Anemia drugs under assault, stem-cell trial moves forward, medical interventions and poor “quality of death,” and more
Is the bell tolling for EPO? – The news keeps going from bad to worse for the wonder drugs of biotech — the anemia treatments known as ESAs or EPO, shorthand for “erythropoiesis stimulating agents” and “erythropoietin,” respectively. Earlier today, an FDA advisory panel recommended new… Continue Reading
Roundup: No-nukes cancer treatment, E. coli vaccines, ovarian-tissue banking, more
No nukes in lymphoma treatment – Two innovative biotech drugs that target tumor cells for destruction by tiny radioactive particles are struggling in the marketplace, in part because cancer doctors are simply too specialized to make proper use of them. The drugs — Zevalin (pictured at… Continue Reading
Health and science roundup: Amgen, generic biologics, the origins of white people and more
Amgen’s anemia rollercoaster — Biotechnology titan Amgen may have dodged a bullet when a study released Thursday showed that its anemia drug Aranesp didn’t shorten the lives of patients, after several other studies had suggested the opposite. But its anemia franchise isn’t out of the woods… Continue Reading
Health and science roundup: Amgen, generic biologics, the origins of white people and more
(Note: This item has been copied over to the Life Sciences page from its original location on the VentureBeat main page. To view it in its original context, with comments, click here.)
Amgen’s anemia rollercoaster — Biotechnology titan Amgen may have dodged a bullet when a study… Continue Reading
“Generic” biologics: Another biotech battle begins
(Note: This item has been copied over to the Life Sciences page from its original location on the VentureBeat main page. To view it in its original context, with comments, click here.)
A second legislative fight for the biotech industry is shaping up in Washington over… Continue Reading
“Generic” biologics: Another biotech battle begins
A second legislative fight for the biotech industry is shaping up in Washington over whether to give the Food and Drug Administration authority to approve “generic” versions of biotechnology drugs whose patents have expired.
Measures that would grant FDA that authority, introduced separately in the House… Continue Reading