The Swiss major is paying up to $280m to buy Vedere Bio, which has developed photoreceptor-protein based optogenetic therapies that are delivered to the retina intravitreally to restore vision.
Having established itself as a main player in gene therapy, with Zolgensma for spinal muscular atrophy closing in on blockbuster status, Novartis AG is targeting inherited eye diseases with its acquisition of US optogenetics specialist Vedere Bio.
The Swiss giant is paying the venture-capital firm $150m up front, with a further $130m to be paid in milestones,...
More than 100 biopharma executives and experts told Scrip their predictions for therapeutic area advances in the coming year. The recent commercial success of GLP-1s in diabetes and obesity and their potential in further disease areas fuelled excitement around the metabolic space. Expectations were also positive in neurology following the launch of Leqembi for Alzheimer’s disease in 2023, while the multiple opportunities to improve cancer treatment kept oncology top of the pile overall.
In this week's podcast edition of Five Must-Know Things: Merck & Co. steps into CD19 bispecific space; gene therapy patients rise, but slowly; Madrigal’s Rezdiffra plans; Korean biopharma financing recovering?; and approvals to watch out for in Q3.
Bluebird, Vertex and Sarepta are starting to see some commercial gene therapy traction and expect momentum to pick up in the second half, while hemophilia remains a challenging area.
After 10 years of promised investment following its Nobel Prize for iPS cell research, Japan is cautiously narrowing regulations around the conditional approval of cell therapies and cutting some reimbursement prices. Commercial success remains mixed and some products have been withdrawn from the market.
