Roche

DVS Sciences raises $14.6 million

Friday, July 15, 2011 10:58 AM

The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and DVS Sciences have announced DVS Sciences has completed a $14.6 million series A financing. DVS, a Toronto-based spinoff from the University of Toronto, invented and manufactures instrumentation that enables paradigm-shifting biological research with potential clinical applications that include personalized medicine.

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Novartis considers IPO in China

Wednesday, July 13, 2011 10:10 AM

Swiss drug maker Novartis is considering a possible initial public offering in China, joining a growing list of multinationals eyeing a listing on Shanghai's planned international board, two people with knowledge of the situation told Reuters.

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James Cassidy joins Roche

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 12:37 PM

Roche has named James (Jim) Cassidy, M.D., Ph.D., head of translational medicine in the oncology discovery and translational area (DTA) in pharma research and early development (pRED).

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Roche partners for translational research

Tuesday, June 7, 2011 03:24 PM

The University of Geneva (UNIGE), Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB) have formed a strategic collaboration with Roche in translational medical research. The initial focus will be on basic research, bioinformatics and biomarker development in cardiology, hematology, pathology and applied human toxicology.

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Merck signs HCV agreement with Roche

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 12:05 PM

Merck and Roche have signed a pact to sell Merck’s recently approved hepatitis C drug Victrelis and explore combination treatments for the disease.

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ThromboGenics and BioInvent begin brain tumor study

Monday, May 16, 2011 01:09 PM

ThromboGenics and co-development partner BioInvent International report that their partner Roche has dosed the first patient in a phase Ib/II study with the novel antibody anti-cancer agent TB-403 (RG7334). The trial is for patients with glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and aggressive type of primary brain tumor in humans.

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The economics of off-shoring clinical trials

Monday, May 9, 2011 01:11 PM

The drugs industry insists that the same strict standards apply to foreign trials as to those conducted domestically, according to a Reuters report.

"We have exactly the same protocol and exactly the same standards for our trials around the world,'' says Roche Holding chief executive Severin Schwan.  "Some years ago quality might have been a real concern. Today the situation is different. This is a reason why more trials are being conducted in emerging markets.''

Switzerland-based Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, is also conducting more trials overseas because the healthcare authorities in certain countries to see data collected from their own populations.

"I see this as an opportunity. A broader range of patients can take part in our trials and the patient population of our trials becomes ethnically more diverse ... If we do not include a certain portion of patients in our global trials, some countries might delay the approval of certain drugs,'' Schwan says.

However, for drug companies looking to globalize clinical trials, two factors are considered: time and money. The clock is always ticking down to the next drug patent expiration, and taking six months off drug development timelines can spell hundreds of millions of dollars of extra sales.

So, many in the industry are still working out just how much cheaper it really is to do clinical research in internationally.

In 2008, former GlaxoSmithKline chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier published estimates in an article for the Harvard Business Review, stating a midsize company with 60,000 patients in clinical trials could save $600 million a year by switching 50% of its trials to low-cost places such as India and Latin America.

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Report: Some sponsors more prepared to lead the way in personalized medicine than others

Monday, April 18, 2011 08:05 AM

As the pharmaceutical industry’s investment in personalized medicine leads to development of an increasing number of targeted therapies, particularly for cancer patients, some drug sponsors have shown greater commitment and more structure in their approach than others, according to a new report by consulting firm Diaceutics.

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Positive results for Curis phase II trial

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 12:46 PM

Curis, a drug development company focusing on next-generation targeted small molecule drug candidates for cancer treatment, announced a positive outcome from a pivotal phase II clinical trial conducted by Roche and Genentech, Curis' collaborator and a wholly-owned member of the Roche Group, of GDC-0449, a first-in-class hedgehog pathway inhibitor, in patients with advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC).

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Drugmakers may face FDA fines for slow efficacy confirmation in cancer drugs

Monday, March 28, 2011 01:04 PM

Winning early U.S. approval of promising cancer treatments could wind up costing drugmakers up to $10 million in fines if they don’t confirm their drugs’ effectiveness in follow-up studies within a restrictive timeframe, FDA officials said, according to a Bloomberg report.

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