GSK, Google form first bioelectronics firm; 11 generic companies benefit from the Teva Allergan deal

This week, Phispers brings to you the details of the bioelectronics firm formed by GSK and Google. There is also news on companies like Teva, Takeda, Jinan Jinda and Eli Lilly, besides two other news snippets pertaining to the FDA -- while the first one pertains to generic approvals, the other one relates to an additional black box warning on a few antibiotics.

 

 

GSK and Google join hands to form first bioelectronics startup

GlaxoSmithKline and Google’s parent company – Alphabet – have joined hands to create a new company that is focused on fighting diseases by targeting electrical signals in the human body. This way, GSK and Alphabet’s life sciences unit – known as Verily Life Sciences – will be jump-starting a new field of medicine known as bioelectronics.

Verily Life Sciences and GSK will together contribute US $ 715.12 million over seven years to the startup Galvani Bioelectronics. The startup will develop miniature electronic implants for the treatment of asthma, diabetes and other chronic conditions.

The implantable devices developed by Galvani, which is owned 55 percent by GSK and 45 percent by Verily, can modify electrical nerve signals. The aim is to modulate irregular or altered impulses that occur in many illnesses.

The new company will be based at GSK’s Stevenage research center north of London, with a second research hub in South San Francisco.

The announcement comes just weeks after GSK had said it was going to use Apple’s HealthKit to conduct clinical trials.

Three years ago, GSK had first unveiled its ambitions in bioelectronics in the journal – Nature. Bioelectronic remedies attach battery-powered implants the size of a grain of rice (or even smaller) to individual nerves to correct faulty electrical signals between the nervous system and the body’s organs.

GSK believes altering these nerve signals could open up the airways of asthma patients, reduce inflammation in the gut from Crohn’s disease and treat patients with a range of other chronic ailments such as arthritis. So far, the implants have only been tested on animals but the aim is to produce treatments that will supplement or replace drugs that often come with side-effects.

GSK has been working on bioelectronic medicines since 2012 in a push to develop new patentable treatments, since its Advair respiratory treatment faces competition from generic versions. It has invested US $50 million in a venture capital fund for bioelectronics and provided funding to scientists working in the field.

 

Teva divests 79 products to 11 generic players to close Allergan deal

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries – the world’s largest generics drug company – won a US anti-trust approval to purchase Allergan's generics business, after agreeing to divest 79 generic drugs to rival firms. This was arrived at to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that its proposed US $ 40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan’s generic pharmaceutical business would be anti-competitive. The remedy requires Teva to divest the drug portfolio to 11 firms, and marks the largest drug divestiture order in a FTC pharmaceutical merger case.

The Teva-Allergan deal, which was announced in July 2015, solidifies Teva’s position as the world's largest maker of generics while freeing Allergan to focus on branded drugs.

The companies that have acquired the divested products are Mayne Pharma Group, Impax Laboratories, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Cipla Limited, Zydus Worldwide DMCC, Mikah Pharma, Perrigo Pharma International, Aurobindo Pharma USA, Prasco and 3M Company.

 

Eli Lilly CEO steps down; company under probe by US Justice Department 

Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter has stepped down after steering the pharma company through long R&D droughts. The company’s president David Ricks will move up to the top spot. And after a brief spell as executive chairman, Lechleiter will leave the company next spring.

Lechleiter has been the company's CEO since April 1, 2008, and the chairman of its board of directors since January 1, 2009.

The announcement has come at a time when Eli Lilly has been asked by the Justice Department to disclose information on relationships with pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), the companies that negotiate prices and set reimbursement conditions.

It has not been clear what exactly the department of justice is looking for. In the past, drug makers such as Novartis and AstraZeneca have agreed to pay fines and penalties to settle allegations pertaining to PBMs.

 

FDA continues to race ahead with generic approvals  

The American regulator has reduced its pile of ANDA (abbreviated new drug applications) by about 500 applications in the first six months of 2016. The FDA has also approved 315 more ANDAs over the same time period and has sent 66 more complete response letters — or rejections — to drug makers.

This news comes after Bloomberg reported last month that the FDA has become something of a bogeyman for India’s stock markets by approving generic drug applications from India at a record place. Similarly, PharmaCompass had reported last week that Indian companies have been fixing compliance issues.

 

China’s Jinan Jinda fails another EDQM inspection; compliance troubles in Denmark  

In regulatory news from across the world, Jinan Jinda, a Chinese API manufacturer that had failed an inspection by Italian regulators in June 2015, had more bad news awaiting it a year on.

In a June 2016 re-inspection, this time by the Spanish Health Authority, the regulator maintained the ‘facilities non-compliance standing’ since two critical observations were made and the corrections from the previous inspection “were found as not having been implemented in a satisfactory way”. And critical deficiencies were found on raw data.

In the June 2015 inspection, the critical observation was related to an unofficial and non-controlled storage area containing mainly raw materials and finished products which had been made inaccessible to inspectors as the door had been removed and replaced with a panel fixed with screws to the wall.

Meanwhile, the FDA issued an untitled letter (dated July 15, 2016) to Danish allergy immunotherapy company ALK-Abelló (ALK) over manufacturing and quality control issues at its Horsholm, Denmark facility. The letter comes after a 12-day inspection of the facility in March 2016. During the inspection, the FDA had cited ALK for four “significant deviations” from cGMP requirements. 

 

Another black box warning added to antibiotics like Cipro and Levaquin

The FDA has upgraded warnings on certain antibiotics, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Levaquin, Bayer’s Cipro extended-release tablets and Merck’s Avelox. The FDA had added a black box warning in 2008 about the increased risk of tendinitis in which the tissue connecting muscle to bone becomes inflamed.

In May this year, the FDA had advised restricting the use of fluoroquinolone antibiotic for certain uncomplicated infections and had warned about the disabling side-effects of the drug.

The new warning talks about long-term risks to the drugs’ current black box warning. The agency also advised using the drugs only for serious infections. 

Manufacturers of fluoroquinolone have faced thousands of lawsuits from patients who claim that their injuries were caused by the drugs. J&J alone faced 3,400 lawsuits over Levaquin’s links to tendon problems and has also settled many of those cases.

 

Takeda to overhaul R&D, downsize operations in the UK

Takeda Pharmaceutical of Japan has said it plans to build a new pipeline of drugs. It plans to revamp its research operations at the cost of around US $ 727 million.. 

The company also plans to close some of its R&D operations in the UK. Takeda is beginning the first ‘consultation stage of the layoff process in the UK, which hosts a pre-clinical R&D operation in Cambridge as well as a development center headquarter with facilities in the UK, Switzerland and Denmark.

Under the revamp, Takeda’s R&D activities will be concentrated in Japan and the US, the 235-year old drug company said in a statement. Takeda plans to now focus on the three therapeutic areas of oncology, gastroenterology and the central nervous system.

“We need to first build new capabilities and embrace new ways of working,” Andy Plump, Takeda’s chief medical and scientific officer, said in the statement.

 

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