| Today's Top Story |  |  | | - FDA official: Breakthrough cancer meds should be transformative
Cancer treatments that receive the FDA's breakthrough designation should be transformative, said Dr. Richard Pazdur, head of the agency's office of hematology and oncology products. Breakthrough status involves continuous dialogue between FDA staff and the drug's developer, allowing regulators to suggest changes that can lead to more tailored, faster trials, Pazdur said at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting. The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (6/3)       | Health Care & Policy | | | | - Study finds superiority of older drugs over new meds
The effectiveness of new medicines compared with that of older drugs has fallen since the 1970s, according to a study in the journal Health Affairs that analyzed data from 315 placebo-controlled trials published since 1966. The analysis could be bad news for branded drugs if comparative-effectiveness studies conducted under the Affordable Care Act reach similar conclusions, but this article also cites recent advances in the development of leukemia drugs and antivirals, for example. "We believe that a lot continues to be accomplished in terms of yielding very, very positive results for patients, so there seems to be a disconnect between that and this paper," said Randy Burkholder, PhRMA's deputy vice president of policy. Reuters (6/3) - AstraZeneca halts development of RA drug candidate fostamatinib
AstraZeneca said it is stopping development of fostamatinib, a rheumatoid-arthritis-drug candidate licensed from Rigel Pharmaceuticals, after obtaining disappointing results from late-stage trials. AstraZeneca plans to return fostamatinib's rights to Rigel. Late-stage data failed to measure up to the promising results seen earlier in development, said Briggs Morrison, AstraZeneca's global head of medicines development. Reuters (6/4) - Public-private alliance aims to develop novel cancer therapies
Onyx Pharmaceuticals and the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California at San Francisco formed a partnership called the Oncology Innovation Alliance to discover and develop novel therapies for hematologic cancers and solid tumors, and to advance patient care. "Our goal is to create an umbrella partnership that enables us to work together to better understand the cascade of events within a cell that leads to disease, and find innovative ways to use that knowledge to diagnose and treat patients far more precisely than we can today," said UCSF Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jeffrey Bluestone. Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (6/3) - Pressure to control costs mounts with arrival of immunotherapies
Insurers and health care providers could be forced to search for savings in order to pay the high prices for immunotherapies, a new class of cancer medicines that could become the main treatment for a majority of cancers over the next decade. Insurers are moving away from fee-for-service system to value-based models. "Many organizations have been preparing for the ACA (Affordable Care Act) and have taken steps to improve efficiency and to develop quality improvement programs that will minimize the use of treatments and diagnostics that are not likely to be a benefit," said Dr. Neal Meropol of University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. "Access to insurance will increase access to care." Reuters (6/5) | Company & Financial News | | | |  | Analyst Paper - ARC Brief: Infrastructure: the Hidden Optimization Opportunity
New technologies allow preventative and predictive maintenance coupled with EAM and analytics to be applied to infrastructure. Those responsible for maintaining facilities, fleets, and linear assets should investigate strategies for improving the effectiveness of the maintenance function. Learn more in the free report. |
 | Industrial & Environmental | | | |  | |  | | The Buzz(CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS)
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| News from BIO | | | | - Save on energy costs through BIO's newest cost-savings program
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