Antibiotic Resistance Is Getting Worse, WHO Report Finds
Read about the biggest pharmaceutical developments and pricing stories from the past week in KHN's Prescription Drug Watch roundup.
CIDRAP:
WHO Report Shows Rising Antibiotic Resistance, Need For Better Data
New global data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and consumption shows high levels of resistance in the pathogens that cause the deadliest infections. (12/9)
Reuters:
Eli Lilly Prepares For As Many As 5 New Drug Launches Next Year
Eli Lilly and Co. said on Tuesday it hopes to launch as many as five new treatments next year that could drive growth through the decade as it bets on multi-billion dollar markets for treating obesity and Alzheimer's disease. (Leo, 12/13)
NPR:
CRISPR Gene-Editing Improves Cancer Immunotherapy
Katie Pope Kopp went through round after round of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant to treat her non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But nothing could beat it. ... Victor Bartolome suffered through decades of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, too, to keep his blood cancer at bay. Eventually, his doctors told him he had run out of options. ... But then Kopp and Bartolome heard about something new: In the last few years, some doctors have started using the gene-editing technique CRISPR to try to modify cells of the immune system to treat cancers like theirs. (Stein, 12/13)
Reuters:
Amgen Dives Deeper Into Rare Disease Drugs With $27.8 Bln Horizon Deal
Amgen Inc on Monday agreed to buy Horizon Therapeutics Plc in a deal valued at $27.8 billion, fortifying its rare diseases portfolio in the biggest buyout in the sector this year. (Mishra and Satija, 12/12)
Stat:
An Early Lesson From The Uganda Ebola Vaccine Trial
A clinical trial of vaccines targeting the Ebola Sudan virus is starting this week in Uganda, with first doses going into arms potentially on Tuesday. Already, though, this effort has taught the World Health Organization and partners two important lessons. They’ve learned they can get clinical trials to test countermeasures for rare but dangerous pathogens up and running far more quickly than eight years ago, when a similar effort was launched to test vaccines as Ebola Zaire raced through three West African countries. That effort took more than five months. This one has taken roughly 80 days. (Branswell, 12/13)
