White House Held Private Meeting With Drug Stakeholders Over Shortages
Stat says the in-person meeting of the drug shortage task force with representatives from hospitals, drugmakers, pharmacies and more was a rare occurrence, and its goal was tackling shortages of cancer drugs. Also: staff cuts at biotech startup Celsius, cystic fibrosis medications access, and more.
Stat:
White House Drug Shortage Group Privately Met With Industry
A new White House task force on drug shortages held a rare in-person meeting last Friday with representatives from hospitals, drugmakers, pharmacies, and others in the drug supply chain to brainstorm policies for stemming shortages of cancer drugs. (Wilkerson, 8/3)
More pharmaceutical updates —
Stat:
Biotech Startup Celsius Cuts 75% Of Staff Ahead Of First Trial Start
Launching your first clinical trial is the type of announcement most biotech executives eagerly anticipate, hoping to celebrate with employees. But for Celsius Therapeutics CEO Tariq Kassum, it’s proving to be more difficult than he anticipated. That’s because in recent days, Celsius, based in Cambridge, Mass., has been forced to conduct a round of layoffs, sources told STAT. Kassum confirmed around 75% of Celsius’ 40-person team had been laid off, and disclosed that the biotech has also been quietly paring back its pipeline this year. It shut down almost all early-stage research projects, including pausing all of its cancer drug work, in order to conserve enough cash for the Phase 1 trial it announced this week. (DeAngelis, 8/3)
Stat:
Micronoma's Microbiome Cancer Diagnostic Approach Under Fire
Micronoma, a San Diego-based biotech startup, was founded on the idea that signatures from microbes that colonize tumors could lead to a blood test to detect cancer. The hypothesis was based on a high-profile Nature paper, published in 2020, that suggested these microbes are consistently found in tumors, and that they create such specific signatures they could be used to identify cancer types with nearly 100% accuracy. But late Monday night, a team of researchers published a manuscript on the preprint site bioRxiv.com showing what they believe to be two “fatal errors” in the Nature paper’s analyses, invalidating not only the paper’s findings but possibly the scientific foundation for Micronoma, which has raised an estimated $17.5 million in funding from investors including SymBiosis Capital Management and the Seerave Foundation. (Chen and Herper, 8/3)
Stat:
Alnylam Reports Growth In Sales Of Rare Disease Treatments
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals said Thursday that sales of its treatments for rare diseases grew 43% in the second quarter compared to the year-ago period, as the biotech prepares for a key meeting with the Food and Drug Administration in September. (Trang and Feuerstein, 8/3)
Stat:
Vertex Faces Renewed Calls To Widen Access To Its Cystic Fibrosis Medicines In Poor Countries
Several Latino advocacy groups and more than 100 clinicians from dozens of countries are lending their voices to an expanding campaign to pressure Vertex Pharmaceuticals to widen access to its cystic fibrosis medications. (Silverman, 8/3)
Axios:
Silicon Valley's Biotech Sector Still Growing Amid Economy Concerns
Silicon Valley's tech companies have struggled with mass layoffs in the past year, but the biotech industry hasn't suffered quite the same fate. The Bay Area's biotech hub has been in the national spotlight in recent years amid pandemic-era breakthroughs and cautionary tales like Theranos' fall from grace. (Chen, 8/3)
