Wednesday, August 16, 2023
Emergent BioSolutions announced it is reducing investment in and de-emphasizing focus on growth in its CDMO services business. As a result, Emergent is reducing operations at its Bayview facility in Baltimore, Maryland. Additionally, Emergent will reduce operations at its facility in Canton, Massachusetts, in response to changes in the volume of U.S. government procurements of medical countermeasures. This action will also result in a small reduction in operations at the company’s Rockville, Maryland, drug product facility. These strategic actions will lead to a reduction of approximately 400 employees across all areas of the company. In combination with other cost reduction initiatives, these actions are expected to result in annualized savings of over $100 million when fully implemented. The costs associated with these actions are estimated to be approximately $19 million - $21 million and are expected to be incurred in the third quarter of 2023.
NS Pharma announced that the FDA granted Orphan Drug Designation to NS-089/NCNP-02, an investigational candidate for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy amenable to exon 44 skipping therapy. NS-089/NCNP-02 previously received Rare Pediatric Disease Designation from the FDA in June 2023 and Breakthrough Therapy Designation in July 2023.
NS-089/NCNP-02 is an antisense nucleotide discovered through joint research between NS Pharma's parent company, Nippon Shinyaku, and the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry.
PrecisionLife has announced the results of its long COVID study, providing the first detailed genetic insights into the condition and its commonalities with other diseases. Long COVID is a debilitating chronic condition that has affected over 100 million people globally. It is characterized by diverse symptoms, including fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and respiratory problems. The analysis identified 73 genes that were highly associated with severe and fatigue-dominant forms of the disease. Of these, 9 genes have prior associations to acute COVID-19 and 14 were differentially expressed in a transcriptomic analysis of long COVID patients.
Eli Lilly and Company announced the successful completion of its acquisition of DICE Therapeutics. The acquisition expands Lilly's immunology portfolio to include DICE's novel oral therapeutic candidates, including oral IL-17 inhibitors currently in clinical development, to treat chronic diseases in immunology.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Decibel Therapeutics announced a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Decibel by Regeneron at a price of $4.00 per share of Decibel common stock payable in cash at closing, with an additional non-tradeable contingent value right (CVR) to receive up to $3.50 per share in cash upon achievement of certain clinical development and regulatory milestones for Decibel’s lead investigational candidate, DB-OTO, within specified time periods. The proposed acquisition values Decibel at a total equity value of approximately $109 million based on the amount payable at closing, and a total equity value of up to approximately $213 million if the CVR milestones are achieved.