Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Damian Garde
Published on 2024-01-26 14:29:45
Sign up for our biotech newsletter to stay on top of the science and politics driving biotech today. Hello, everyone. Damian here with a look at a biotech rarity, a milestone on Wall Street, and pharma’s latest run-in with Washington.
Advisers to the European regulatory agency reaffirmed a previous recommendation to withdraw from the market Translarna, a treatment for a certain type of Duchenne muscular dystrophy made by PTC Therapeutics, because its efficacy could not be confirmed. Translarna was granted European conditional approval in 2014, but subsequent studies designed to confirm the drug’s benefit were negative. European regulatory advisers also recommended an expanded approval for Abecma, the CAR-T therapy made by Bristol Myers Squibb, to cover treatment of patients with less advanced stages of multiple myeloma.
The year’s first biotech IPO, from CG Oncology, got off to a good start when the company up-sized its offering and priced its shares above its expected range. The company opened at $29 a share, about 50% above its offering price, and then rose to as high as $40 before closing at $37. CG Oncology, now valued at about $2 billion, raised $380 million in its IPO, money that will fund the development of its late-stage treatment for bladder cancer. The one-day success bodes well for the growing queue of biotech companies planning to go public in the early weeks of 2024.
Lilly has surpassed Tesla in terms of market value, with Eli Lilly being worth about $600 billion, eclipsing Elon Musk’s electric car company, which has fallen about 25% since the start of the year. This points to a future in which fund managers consider treating obesity and Alzheimer’s disease to be a better use of capital than making cars that sometimes don’t work when it’s cold, which would benefit biotech as a whole.
The CEO of Merck, among the pharmaceutical executives called to testify before Sen. Bernie Sanders’ health committee, offered a curious reason for declining the invitation: As a trained attorney, he is not an expert in drug pricing. Sanders knows a slow pitch over home plate when he sees one and has expressed his discontent at the executives for declining the invitation.
Lilly’s weight-loss drug Mounjaro is coming to the UK after being cleared, and Saudi Arabia sets sights on becoming a biotech hub.
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Read the original article on Africa Health News
