Healthcare Hires of Note
Read about executive hires across healthcare and life science companies and organizations such as ProofPilot, Genentech, MassBio, Virgin Pulse, and more.
Blueprint Medicines to buy cancer drug startup with potential edge over Takeda, J&J targeted therapies
Blueprint Medicines is paying $250 million up front to acquire Lengo Therapeutics, developer of targeted cancer therapies. The startup’s lead drug candidate is on track to begin human testing in non-small cell lung cancer, and Blueprint believes the small molecule has advantages over new targeted therapies from Johnson & Johnson and Takeda Pharmaceutical.
The Funding Model for Cancer Innovation is Broken — We Can Fix It
Closing cancer health equity gaps require medical breakthroughs made possible by new funding approaches.
Blueprint to take cancer drug back to FDA after positive results in rare blood disease
The drug, Ayvakit, showed a high overall response rate in patients with advanced systemic mastocytosis, a rare type of blood cancer with limited treatment options. Novartis' Rydapt has been approved for advanced SM for several years.
FDA green-lights second RET inhibitor, this time from Blueprint Medicines
The drug, Gavreto, or pralsetinib, won accelerated approval for RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer, with or without prior therapy, while the FDA accepted the company's approval application for the drug in two types of thyroid cancer. The approval follows the May nod for Eli Lilly's Retevmo for all three indications.
Roche pays Blueprint $675M upfront for ex-U.S. development, commercialization rights to cancer drug
Under the deal, Blueprint will additionally be eligible for more than $900M in milestone payments plus royalties for the RET inhibitor pralsetinib. The deal includes exclusive rights for Roche in ex-U.S. markets other than China and shared rights in the U.S.
Blueprint gets FDA priority review for competitor to newly approved Lilly cancer drug
Phase I/II data for pralsetinib in non-small cell lung cancer are the subject of a poster presented at the ASCO meeting. An expert noted the similarity between its clinical activity and that of Lilly's drug, Retevmo. Both are RET inhibitors.
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Transforming Patient Care: The Role of AI-Powered Assistants
The progress in artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping patient care, across various dimensions, from facilitating faster discharge to curating treatment plans and suggesting lifestyle changes.
With new lung cancer data at ASCO, Blueprint Medicines nips at Eli Lilly’s heels
The company will present a poster on pralsetinib, its RET inhibitor, which some analysts wrote they view as being "interchangeable" with Lilly's Retevmo, which received accelerated FDA approval last week.
FDA approves Blueprint Medicines’ precision therapy for rare form of gastrointestinal cancer
The agency on Thursday approved Ayvakit (avapritinib) for gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST, that harbors a PDGFRa exon 18 mutation. Still, identifying patients could be the biggest challenge, an analyst wrote.
Blueprint throws down targeted therapy gauntlet with new lung cancer data, FDA submission
The biotech company announced data from its Phase I/II study of pralsetinib in RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer and kicked off a rolling submission for FDA approval. Eli Lilly Oncology announced data for its own RET inhibitor in September.
Foresight is 2020: A look at what’s ahead for biopharma
Executives from biopharma companies and an academic expert weigh in on what's in store for areas like cell and gene therapy, precision medicine and drug pricing.
Improving the Healthcare Financial Experience to Help Care Flow
Zelis CEO Amanda Eisel shares her perspective on how the company is solving the problems of a fragmented health financial system to benefit all.
FDA to split Blueprint’s cancer drug application in two
Shares of the company fell about 5 percent Monday following news that the FDA would review the drug avapritinib separately for two indications of gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
Lilly’s biomarker-driven drug shows strong, durable response rates in lung cancer patients
Analysts nevertheless wrote that with each data update, Lilly's RET inhibitor LOXO-292 (selpercatinib) appears less differentiated on efficacy as well as tolerability from Blueprint Medicines' BLU-667 (pralsetinib).
Updated ASCO data from Loxo study show more patients responding
Interim data from the Phase I data show 77 percent overall response rate, including 74 percent confirmed responses.
Loxo Oncology’s shares shoot up on early data slated for ASCO presentation
Loxo's data highlight growing industry interest in so-called "basket" trials and drugs that targeted to genetic markers instead of tumor types.
The March for Science: politics, puns, and plenty of numbers
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people (and quite a few dogs) took to the streets of major cities around the world to highlight the immense value of science, while also protesting proposed budget cuts and a move away from evidence-based policy decisions.