The search for a COVID-19 treatment has ramped up this week, with two new studies detailing the efficacy of Gilead’s antiviral therapy remdesivir in the treatment of patients hospitalised with coronavirus, while researchers in America have been studying famotidine, the active ingredient in Pepcid, as a potential drug to help alleviate symptoms of the virus.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has given its recommendation for the approval of Kalydeco for the treatment of children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis in a new indication, Vertex has revealed.

President Donald Trump has vowed to cut the US’s reliance on foreign drugs, singling out China and Ireland as countries he wants to stop buying pharmaceuticals from.

A new online reporting site has been launched by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) to track potential side-effects arising from the use of any therapies used to treat COVID-19, in a bid to build a knowledge base around safe treatment of the pandemic disease.

Alexion has announced it is to acquire Boston-based blood disorder specialist Portola Pharmaceuticals in a transaction to the value of $1.41 billion in cash.

The FDA has moved to approve an oral tablet formulation of AstraZeneca’s Farxiga (dapagliflozin) to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalisation in adult patients with New York Heart Association’s functional class II-IV heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

A recent report from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has shown that black people in Britain are four times more likely to die from the COVID-19 coronavirus than white Britons.

AZ has pledged to make the vaccine at cost for the duration of the pandemic

New crop of data suggests drug can speed recovery from COVID-19

Eight new medicines recommended for approval

It is hoped that the drug may prevent COVID-19

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A new collaboration targeting rare heart diseases has been formed between California’s BioMarin Pharmaceutical…

UK-based Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals has ended a trial of INOmax (nitric oxide) gas early due to positive…

The ongoing spread of COVID-19 in Russia is leading to shortages of drugs against orphan diseases in…

The US District Court in Delaware issued a decision upholding the validity of patent claims from three…

Following a couple of active M&A years, USA-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals has now reached a definitive…

Farxiga (dapagliflozin) has been approved in the US to reduce the risk of cardiovascular (CV) death and…

Pandemic-based stockpiling among people with diabetes helped lift revenues beyond analysts’ expectations…

Germany’s science and technology company Merck KGaA today announced its investment in SynSense (formerly…

Canada-based Bausch Health Companies, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary, Salix Pharmaceuticals and…

Positive Phase III data for Recarbrio (imipenem/cilastatin/relebactam) have been announced by New Jersey,…

US pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb saw its revenue reach $10.8 billion in the first quarter of 2020,…

The US Food and Drug Administration has granted accelerated approval for Retevmo (selpercatinib) capsules…

Gilead Sciences scored a massive win earlier this week with its first positive data readout for investigational candidate remdesivir in treating patients with severe COVID-19. Gilead already has its own supply of the drug humming in anticipation of high demand, but opportunities are out there for a partner to join in. 

Novartis is using familiar faces—real patients from its Cosentyx TV commercials—to thank healthcare workers and promise support for patients. It’s a shift away from product-centered TV ads as Novartis adjusts its Cosentyx DTC effort during the COVID-19 crisis to highlight resources for patients, the drugmaker said.

AstraZeneca has watched superstar SGLT2 diabetes med Farxiga nail trial after trial in highly coveted kidney and heart failure indications, with the FDA expediting reviews to back them up. The one thing AstraZeneca was missing? The agency taking Farxiga across the finish line. 

German drugmaker Fresenius Kabi has made major investments in its U.S. manufacturing operations in recent years with some mixed quality results along the way. Now, one of the drugmaker's products faces a recall for more manufacturing woes.

Amgen is planning to file for FDA approval of Otezla in mild to moderate plaque psoriasis based on new data showing patients on the drug experienced significant improvements in their symptoms. The label expansion will be key to Amgen's ability to recoup the $13.4 billion it paid to acquire the drug from Celgene last year.

Global drugmakers are working overtime to keep supplies coming amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. But in manufacturing facilities packed with workers, COVID-19 presents a particularly difficult challenge—and now one Indian plant has been forced to shutter due to a rash of infections. 

When Gilead Sciences scored a groundbreaking FDA emergency use authorization for COVID-19 therapy remdesivir, the company made the unusual move of handing distribution rights to the U.S. government. But the federal rollout has gotten off to a rocky start. 

Gilead Sciences has captured worldwide attention with its COVID-19 antiviral, remdesivir, cleared late last week by the FDA—not all of it welcome. With bad actors targeting companies at the head of the spear in the pandemic response, Gilead may have found itself in their sights.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 1,248,040 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 28,974 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 2,180 to 75,477.

China reported one new coronavirus case for Friday, unchanged from the day before, data from the national health authority showed on Saturday.

Thailand reported four new coronavirus cases and one more death on Saturday, bringing the total to 3,004 cases and 56 deaths since the outbreak started in January.

Singapore registered 753 new coronavirus infections, its health ministry said on Saturday, taking the city-state's total to 22,460 cases.

Chinese regulators have approved Novartis' Mayzent to treat relapsing multiple sclerosis in adults, the Swiss drug maker said in a statement on Saturday.

Tokyo reported 36 new cases of coronavirus infections on Saturday, TV Asahi said, three less than a day earlier and the seventh consecutive day that new infections have remained below 100.

Indonesia reported on Saturday 533 new coronavirus infections, the biggest daily increase, taking the total number to 13,645, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said.

Malaysia health authorities on Saturday reported 54 new coronavirus cases for a total of 6,589.

One in four Portuguese with a monthly household income of 650 euros ($705) or less have lost all their income because of the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, a study by the National School of Public Health showed on Saturday.

Jorge De Castro Font, 45, a former senator in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty today to 20 counts of honest services wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion.

Hassan Saied Keshari and his corporation, Kesh Air International, pleaded guilty this morning in the Southern District of Florida to charges of conspiring to illegally export military and commercial aircraft parts to Iran. 

A third individual pleaded guilty today to illegally accessing numerous confidential passport application files. Gerald R. Lueders, 65, of Woodbridge, Va., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a one-count criminal information charging him with unauthorized computer access.

The Department today announced a settlement resolving allegations that the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (Metropolitan Government) violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) by discriminating against Teen Challenge, a Christian substance abuse treatment program.

The Department today filed suit against Ronald D. Peterson and Glen E. Johnson, the owner and rental manager, respectively, of 11 single family homes in Ypsilanti, Mich., alleging a pattern or practice of sexual harassment of female tenants.

The Department today filed a lawsuit on behalf of Suzanne L. Halverson, an Army National Guard member, against Grand Forks County, N.D., alleging violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), which prohibits employers from discriminating against service-members because of their past, current or future military service obligations.

The Department today announced that it has reached a consent decree with the Policía de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Police Department or PRPD) that will, if approved by the federal district court, resolve a complaint the Department filed in March 2008 alleging that the PRPD engaged in unlawful employment discrimination based on gender and retaliation, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin and religion, and also prohibits retaliation against persons for filing charges of discrimination.