Pharmacy Market

Pfizer and BioNTech Announce a Partnership with Biovac to Develop and Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine Doses in Africa

Pfizer | July 22, 2021

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE today announced the signing of a letter of intent with The Biovac Institute (Pty) Ltd, also known as "Biovac," a South African biopharmaceutical business headquartered in Cape Town, to produce the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for sale inside the African Union.

Biovac will manufacture and distribute COVID-19 vaccines as part of Pfizer and BioNTech's worldwide COVID-19 vaccine supply chain and production network, which currently spans three continents and includes more than 20 facilities. Technical transfer, on-site development, and equipment installation operations will begin immediately to enable Biovac's participation in the process.

Biovac's Cape Town plant is expected to be integrated into the vaccine supply chain by the end of 2021, according to Pfizer and BioNTech. Biovac will acquire drug substances from European facilities, and final dosage manufacturing will begin in 2022. Annual production will reach 100 million finished dosages at full operating capacity. All dosages will be delivered solely inside the African Union's 55 member states.

Quality, compliance, safety track record, technical capability, capacity availability, highly trained workforce, project management abilities, prior working relationship, and commitment to working with flexibility through a fast-paced program are all factors that Pfizer and BioNTech consider when selecting contract manufacturers. Since 2015, Pfizer and Biovac have collaborated on the Prevenar 13 vaccine's sterile formulation, fill, finish, and distribution.

Pfizer and BioNTech have delivered more than 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than 100 nations and territories across the globe. The companies are firmly committed to ensuring that all people around the world have equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines, actively working with global governments and global health partners to provide 2 billion doses to low and middle-income countries in 2021 and 2022 – 1 billion each year. This comprises a non-profit arrangement to provide 500 million doses to the US government, which the government will then give to the African Union and the COVAX 92 Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) nations, as well as a 40 million dose direct supply deal with the COVAX facility.

Both BioNTech and Pfizer worked together to create the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, which is based on BioNTech's unique mRNA technology. In addition to the European Union, BioNTech has emergency use authorizations or equivalent in the United States (jointly with Pfizer), Canada, and other countries in advance of a planned application for full marketing authorizations in these countries.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine has not been approved or licensed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but it has been approved for emergency use by FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to prevent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in people aged 12 and up. Unless the declaration is ended or the permission withdrawn sooner, the emergency use of this product is only allowed for the duration of the declaration that conditions exist justifying the authorization of emergency use of the medical product under Section 564 (b) (1) of the FD&C Act.

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Ionis enters collaboration to advance next generation program targeting Lp(a) for cardiovascular disease

PRNewswire | August 04, 2023

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it has entered a collaboration and license agreement with Novartis for the discovery, development and commercialization of a novel medicine for patients with lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a)-driven cardiovascular disease (CVD). This builds on the companies' existing collaboration focused on the development and commercialization of pelacarsen, which Novartis is currently evaluating in a Phase 3 cardiovascular outcome study. The next generation compound will be a potential follow-on to pelacarsen. "We are pleased to expand our productive collaboration with Novartis aimed at delivering transformative therapies to patients with elevated Lp(a) who are at high risk of cardiovascular events," said Brett P. Monia, Ph.D., Ionis' chief executive officer. "This collaboration is designed to leverage Ionis' advancing RNA-targeting platform technologies to deliver a novel Lp(a)-targeting therapy that we expect will provide industry-leading efficacy and dosing frequency." Ionis will receive a $60 million upfront payment from Novartis and is eligible to earn development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments and tiered royalties. Novartis will be solely responsible for the development, manufacturing and potential commercialization of the next generation Lp(a) therapy. The agreement is subject to the satisfaction of requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. About Lp(a) Lp(a) is a lipoprotein particle assembled in the liver that consists of a low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)-like particle and apolipoprotein(a). Lp(a) levels in the blood can vary greatly between individuals primarily due to genetic variations and do not correlate with LDL-C levels. Even patients with LDL-C lowered to target levels (<70 mg/dL) remain at high-risk of cardiovascular events if they have high levels of Lp(a). Elevated Lp(a) is a genetically determined condition that is not responsive to lifestyle changes, therefore patients are unable to adequately control their Lp(a) levels through improved diet or increased physical activity. Elevated Lp(a) is recognized as an independent, genetic cause of coronary artery disease, heart attack, stroke, peripheral arterial disease and aortic stenosis. Currently, there is no effective drug therapy to specifically and robustly lower elevated levels of Lp(a). About Pelacarsen Pelacarsen was discovered by Ionis and licensed to Novartis in 2019 for exclusive worldwide development, manufacturing and commercialization. It is an investigational antisense medicine designed to reduce apolipoprotein(a) production in the liver to offer a direct approach for reducing circulating Lp(a). It is estimated that more than eight million people worldwide have elevated Lp(a) and CVD. Pelacarsen is currently being evaluated in Lp(a) HORIZON (NCT04023552), a global, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled pivotal Phase 3 study conducted by Novartis. The study completed enrollment with 8,323 participants. Data are expected in 2025. About Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. For more than 30 years, Ionis has been a leader in RNA-targeted therapy, pioneering new markets and changing standards of care. Ionis currently has four marketed medicines and a promising late-stage pipeline highlighted by cardiovascular and neurological franchises. Our scientific innovation began and continues with the knowledge that sick people depend on us, which fuels our vision to become the leader in genetic medicine, utilizing a multi-platform approach to discover, develop and deliver life-transforming therapies.

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Pharmacy Market

Koneksa Launches Academic Collaboration Program for Parkinson’s Disease

Businesswire | August 18, 2023

Koneksa, a healthcare technology company pioneering evidence-based digital biomarkers, today announced the first collaboration in the Koneksa Academic Partnership Program for Parkinson’s Disease (KAPP-PD) to incorporate its Neuroscience Toolkit into research programs. The first collaboration of the KAPP-PD program, with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), enables the inclusion of app-and actigraphy-based digital measures and electronic patient reported outcome (ePRO) instruments from Koneksa’s Neuroscience Toolkit into a study comparing short-acting versus long-acting levodopa in Parkinson’s disease. Koneksa’s Neuroscience Toolkit implements a variety of digital assessments that can be combined to collect data for measures of interest. The OHSU team, led by Dr. Delaram Safarpour, MD, MSCE, FAAN, is investigating changes in the neurophysiological correlates of PD with carbidopa-levodopa immediate release compared to long-acting levodopa (Rytary), as well as changes in gait performance at intervals of 30 minutes for a total of 4 hours during each visit. This research will provide strong support for clinical profiles of short- versus long- acting levodopa in PD corresponding to objective physiological measures. “We are collaborating with Koneksa to enhance our study’s objectives: We’ll be including smartphone- and actigraphy-based digital measures and electronic patient reported outcome (ePRO) instruments into our study,” said Martina Mancini, Ph.D., co-investigator of the study, director of the Balance Disorders Laboratory, and Associate Professor of Neurology, OHSU School of Medicine. “Our lab uses new technologies to better understand and measure motor impairments, with the goal of learning how to better help patients with these conditions. Novel, objective metrics, like those made possible with Koneksa’s technology and toolkit, allow us to expand upon what we’ve been able to do in the clinic. In particular, digital at-home measures of daily physical activity, gait and mobility, motor functionality, sleep, and ePRO measures of quality of life all have the potential to uniquely complement OHSU’s in-clinic assessments, offering new and real-world-setting patient insights to support the study’s objectives.” “Koneksa is proud to extend our contribution to critical neuroscience research through KAPP-PD, and we’re delighted to get the program underway with our first collaboration,” said John Wagner, MD, Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer, Koneksa. “These measures will support OHSU in both in-clinic and at-home patient monitoring of critical parameters of interest for this study. We’re committed to helping to get new and better treatments to patients faster, and that’s a vision that OHSU’s Balance Disorders Laboratory shares.” About the Koneksa Academic Partnership Program – Parkinson’s Disease The Koneksa Academic Partnership Program – Parkinson’s Disease (KAPP-PD) is a structured collaboration between Koneksa and select academic partners that enables researchers to incorporate Koneksa’s Neuroscience Toolkit into research programs focusing on Parkinson’s disease. Researchers gain access to an array of devices that capture key measures objectively and sensitively, as well as training materials for site coordinators and study subjects, a cloud-based platform for real-time monitoring, and industry-leading analytics and patented algorithms. About Koneksa Koneksa is a healthcare technology company pioneering evidence-based digital biomarkers to accelerate clinical research and guide decision making in drug development and market strategy. Our evidence-based biomarker solutions enable efficient clinical trial designs to help innovative therapies reach patients faster. Koneksa aims to revolutionize treatment effect detection in clinical research and improve patient outcomes.

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Pharmacy Market

Halozyme Announces Approval of Roche's Tecentriq® Subcutaneous (SC) with ENHANZE® in Great Britain

prnewswire | August 29, 2023

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. announced the approval of Roche's Tecentriq® SC (atezolizumab), using Halozyme's ENHANZE® drug delivery technology, by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in Great Britain. Tecentriq® subcutaneous (SC) is co-formulated with Halozyme's proprietary recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme, rHuPH20, allowing for subcutaneous delivery, which takes approximately seven minutes, compared with 30-60 minutes for intravenous (IV) infusion. Tecentriq® SC will be available to patients in Great Britain for certain types of lung, bladder, breast, and liver cancer.7 Multiple oncology studies suggest that most cancer patients prefer to receive their treatments via subcutaneous delivery, instead of intravenous infusion because of reduced discomfort, ease of administration, and shorter duration of treatment.2,4,11 "We are delighted that Roche has received approval of Tecentriq SC in Great Britain. Subcutaneous delivery of Tecentriq provides cancer patients a faster and more flexible treatment option and may alleviate pressure on healthcare system resources," said Dr. Helen Torley, president and chief executive officer of Halozyme. "We look forward to additional regulatory approvals of our partner products utilizing ENHANZE." Tecentriq® SC is the first subcutaneous anti-PD-(L)1 cancer immunotherapy available to patients in Great Britain and is Roche's fourth subcutaneous cancer therapy using Halozyme's ENHANZE® drug delivery technology.8-10 The approval is based on clinical data from the Phase IB/III IMscin001 study, which showed comparable levels of Tecentriq® in the blood when administered subcutaneously, and a safety and efficacy profile consistent with the IV formulation.12 While the IMscin001 trial was conducted within the hospital setting, the SC formulation may be suitable for out-of-hospital administration by a healthcare professional. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently evaluating Tecentriq® SC for regulatory approval. About Halozyme Halozyme is a biopharmaceutical company bringing disruptive solutions to significantly improve patient experiences and outcomes for emerging and established therapies. As the innovators of the ENHANZE® technology with the proprietary enzyme rHuPH20, Halozyme's commercially-validated solution is used to facilitate the delivery of injected drugs and fluids in order to reduce the treatment burden to patients. Having touched more than 700,000 patient lives in post-marketing use in six commercialized products across more than 100 global markets, Halozyme has licensed its ENHANZE® technology to leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including Roche, Takeda, Pfizer, AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Alexion, argenx, Horizon Therapeutics, ViiV Healthcare and Chugai Pharmaceutical. Halozyme also develops, manufactures and commercializes, for itself or with partners, drug-device combination products using its advanced auto-injector technology that are designed to provide commercial or functional advantages such as improved convenience and tolerability, and enhanced patient comfort and adherence. The Company has a commercial portfolio of proprietary products including XYOSTED®, TLANDO® and NOCDURNA® and partnered commercial products and ongoing product development programs with several pharmaceutical companies including Teva Pharmaceuticals and Idorsia Pharmaceuticals.

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