PHARMACY MARKET
prnewswire | September 21, 2023
Biofourmis, a leading global technology-enabled care delivery company, announced today the release of its expanded Digital Clinical Trials solution within the Biofourmis platform for biopharma and other life sciences companies. The solution offers robust digital tools and resources for trial sponsors and investigators aimed at accelerating drug development and improving access and diversity while also reducing costs.
Biofourmis' Digital Clinical Trials solution includes a technology-enabled, scalable platform and services that support digital tools enablement, trial decentralization, safety monitoring, personalized care, easier participant recruitment and more equitable access to treatment options for patients everywhere. The solution helps sponsors and researchers accelerate clinical development with remote data collection and novel digital endpoints from Biofourmis' library of biomarkers across multiple therapeutic areas.
The expanded solution offers a more holistic workflow, new data management automations and a seamless integration of essential clinical trial documentation, participant scheduling and data collection elements. Because the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform is highly configurable, study start-up timelines can be reduced from months to days. The connected platform seamlessly integrates with 40+ devices, enabling study teams the freedom to select the right device for the right disease area.
Biopharma companies can also tap into Biofourmis' growing principal investigator (PI) network. The network includes experienced and esteemed PIs from leading academic medical centers as a valuable resource to manage digitally driven research and accelerate the pace of recruitment with access to patient databases. Health systems that already use the Biofourmis platform for technology-enabled care delivery at home can easily and quickly expand their clinical research initiatives by leveraging the connected platform to include the Digital Clinical Trials functionality.
"We have consistently earned high satisfaction scores from both researchers and trial participants for our solutions. Now, we have identified additional ways to accelerate access to digital clinical trials, lower costs, and improve the experience for all stakeholders," said Biofourmis COO Jaydev Thakkar. "These new technology and service elements create a more holistic, turnkey solution that achieves those aims while offering greater synergies from drug development to commercialization and creating equitable access to treatment options and clinical research for patients everywhere."
Market-leading enhancements to the Digital Clinical Trials solution include
Robust eConsent and ePROs Capabilities: Robust screening and informed consent tools are integrated into workflows to accelerate recruitment, decrease enrollment time, and help ensure that participants fully understand risks and benefits associated with the trial. The documentation content is easily configurable and compliant with regulatory requirements. The enhanced ePROs (electronic patient-reported outcomes) collection capabilities drive adherence through automated reminders of participants' reporting requirements while offering them the ability to easily share outcomes beyond traditional clinical measures. Reporting flexibility offers investigators increased visibility into participant safety, health and experience.
Dynamic Participant Scheduling: Upon enrollment, the Digital Clinical Trials solution helps research stay on course while encouraging participant adherence and engagement through a virtual visit and schedule of assessment module that streamlines all the "to-do" items for the participant and caregiver, intuitively listing all the required patient reporting and external assessment tasks. Reminders and notifications help participants stay adherent; but if a task is missed, the schedule can automatically adjust so the participant can remain enrolled, and the trial can move forward.
InHome Services: As with all solutions within Biofourmis Connect and Care, In-Home Services such as nurse visits, phlebotomy, infusion, imaging, and other ancillary services delivered within the home are available via the connected platform to support decentralized clinical trials—which further reduces burden on investigators and participants.
Unmatched Safety Monitoring: The solution leverages AI to monitor the efficacy and side effects of drugs. A specific example includes pre-screening for clinical events triggered by high potassium levels (hyperkalemia), which can reduce clinical trial costs by decreasing frequent manual checks by medical professionals while still protecting patient safety. In addition, cardiac safety monitoring capabilities such as auto-detection of QTc prolongation (an extended interval between the heart contracting and relaxing) can improve the safety of trials by detecting patients earlier who are at risk of developing critical heart arrhythmias due to drug side effects.
"Leveraging digital tools and automating and accelerating trial processes for both researchers and participants can increase the likelihood that endpoints will be reached sooner, which lowers costs and simplifies tasks for everyone involved," Thakkar said. "More importantly, shorter trials with more meaningful results mean that groundbreaking new therapies can be discovered and developed faster to improve outcomes for patients worldwide."
About Biofourmis
Biofourmis brings the right care to every person, no matter where they are. The company's AI-driven solution collects and analyzes patient data in real time and identifies shifts that require proactive interventions. This vital innovation provides people everywhere with connected access to hospital-level services, virtual provider networks for remote care, in-home services, and life-changing clinical trials—all without leaving their homes. Trusted by leading health systems, payers, biopharma companies and patients alike, Biofourmis' connected platform improves patient outcomes, prevents hospital readmissions, accelerates drug development, and closes critical gaps in care—ultimately making science smarter, healthcare simpler, and patients healthier.
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Business Insights, PHARMACY MARKET
Businesswire | August 03, 2023
MedinCell During today’s Q2 earnings call, Richard Francis, President and CEO of Teva, and Eric Hughes, Executive Vice President, Global R&D & Chief Medical Officer, commented the US launch of UZEDY since May 2023 and the olanzapine Long-Acting Injectable (LAI).
About UZEDY
Richard Francis said1
“We are actually right on plan or slightly ahead of our market access strategy targets and we are very happy with the launch.”
“The newest member of our innovative family is said risperidone, our long-acting treatment for schizophrenia. Now, to remind everybody, this is a $4 billion market and we've only just launched UZEDY, but we're very pleased with the feedback we're getting from healthcare professionals. And they're confirming that the product profile that we have is unique and advantageous. Now we're seeing this in the fact that our NBRX2 is 40%, so already we're getting 40% of the risperidone long-acting market. We're also seeing hospitals look to use our free samples and free trial requests, and we're having good discussions with our payers. So once again, I think excitement around UZEDY early days, but initial feedback is very positive.”
UZEDY, a long-acting injectable (LAI) risperidone for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults, is the first FDA-approved product based on MedinCell’s BEPO technology. MedinCell is eligible for up to $105m commercial milestones and for royalties on net sales.
About LAI olanzapine (mdc-TJK), initiated in January 2023
Eric Hughes said1
“Our Olanzapine Phase 3 study is actually enrolling very quickly.”
“Olanzapine as an oral agent account for 20% of the patients being treated today, but only less than 1% of patients on the long-acting form are being using that product. And that's primarily because of the safety profile3.”
Richard Francis, said1
“With olanzapine, I've already highlighted the fact that it's a $4 billion market. But if we do manage to bring this to the market with a favorable safety profile, I think we have a real opportunity to have a significant product on our hands here.”
mdc-TJK is an investigational long-acting injectable olanzapine also based on BEPO technology. If approved, it could be the first olanzapine LAI with a favorable safety profile offering a valued treatment option as a complement to UZEDY for severe schizophrenia patients. MedinCell is eligible for $12m left out of $17m of development milestones, for up to $105m commercial milestones and for royalties on net sales.
About MedinCell
MedinCell is a commercial-stage technology pharmaceutical company developing long-acting injectable drugs in many therapeutic areas. Our innovative treatments aim to guarantee compliance with medical prescriptions, to improve the effectiveness and accessibility of medicines, and to reduce their environmental footprint. They combine already known and used active ingredients with our proprietary BEPO® technology which controls the delivery of a drug at a therapeutic level for several days, weeks or months from the subcutaneous or local injection of a simple deposit of a few millimeters, entirely bioresorbable. The first treatment based on BEPO technology, intended for the treatment of schizophrenia, was approved by the FDA in April 2023, and is now distributed in the United States by Teva under the name UZEDY™.
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Views and Analysis
PRNewswire | August 21, 2023
Everest Medicines announced that U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the submission for the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for Nefecon® from its partner Calliditas Therapeutics AB and granted Priority Review. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date is Dec. 20, 2023.
"We congratulate our partner Calliditas for being granted priority review by the FDA for full approval and taking a step closer to offering this first-in-disease therapy to all IgAN patients at risk of progression. It is another testament to Nefecon® as an important, disease-modifying medicine with significant eGFR treatment benefit observed across the entire study population that can substantially delay onset of dialysis for patients at risk," said Rogers Yongqing Luo, Chief Executive Officer of Everest Medicines. "As IgAN prevalence in Asia is much higher than the rest of the world, we look forward to receiving NDA decision for Nefecon® in mainland China in the second half year and filing NDAs in other Asian territories as soon as possible."
The sNDA is based on the full data set from the Phase 3 NefIgArd clinical trial, a randomized, double-blind, multicenter study evaluating the efficacy and safety of Nefecon® at a once-daily dose of 16 mg, compared to placebo, in adult patients with primary IgAN on optimized RASi therapy. The full data from the NeflgArd Phase 3 trial was published in The Lancet in August 2023.
The trial demonstrated a statistically significant benefit of Nefecon® over placebo (p-value < 0.0001) in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) over the two-year study period, which consisted of nine months of treatment with Nefecon® or placebo, followed by a 15-month follow-up period off the study drug. The data reflected treatment benefits across the entire study population, regardless of UPCR baseline, and showed a difference between TARPEYO and placebo in 2-year eGFR total slope of approximately 3mL/min per year using a robust regression method of analysis.
The China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) accepted Everest's NDA for Nefecon® for the treatment of IgAN in November 2022, with a decision expected in the second half year of 2023. The NMPA has also granted Nefecon® break-through therapy designation and NDA priority review. Nefecon® was the first non-oncology drug to receive break-through therapy designation in China.
About Nefecon®
Nefecon® is a patented oral, delayed release formulation of budesonide, a corticosteroid with potent glucocorticoid activity and weak mineralocorticoid activity that undergoes substantial first pass metabolism. The formulation is designed as a delayed release capsule that is enteric coated so that it remains intact until it releases budesonide to the distal ileum. Each capsule contains coated beads of budesonide that target mucosal B-cells present in the ileum where the disease originates, as per the predominant pathogenesis models.
In June 2019, Everest Medicines entered into an exclusive, royalty-bearing license agreement with Calliditas, which gives Everest Medicines exclusive rights to develop and commercialize Nefecon® in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore. The agreement was extended in March 2022 to include South Korea as part of Everest Medicine's territories.
Nefecon® was approved in the United States under accelerated approval based on a reduction in proteinuria. Recently announced topline results from the global, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 clinical trial NefIgArd demonstrated a statistically significant benefit for Nefecon® over placebo in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), a measure of renal function.
About Everest Medicines
Everest Medicines is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing transformative pharmaceutical products and vaccines that address critical unmet medical needs for patients in Asian markets. The management team of Everest Medicines has deep expertise and an extensive track record from both leading global pharmaceutical companies and local Chinese pharmaceutical companies in high-quality discovery, clinical development, regulatory affairs, CMC, business development and operations. Everest Medicines has built a portfolio of potentially global first-in-class or best-in-class molecules, many of which are in late-stage clinical development. The Company's therapeutic areas of interest include renal diseases, infectious diseases, mRNA platform and autoimmune disorders.
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