Marcus Johnson

ARTICLES BY MARCUS JOHNSON

• Roche Announces Purchase of Seragon Pharmaceuticals

  7/7/2014

  Roche has announced the purchase of Seragon Pharmaceuticals. Roche’s Genentech will be paying $725 million in cash for the San Diego oncology developer, in the hopes of expanding its pipeline of cancer drugs. Seragon currently has a breast cancer drug that is in the first stage of human based clinical trials. If cancer drugs in the Seragon pipeline, including Seragon’s breast cancer drug, ARN-810, reach certain milestones, Roche could end up paying the company as much as $1 billion in milestone payments. Once the deal is fully completed, which is expected by the end of the third quarter this year, Roche will be integrating all of Seragon’s drug portfolio into Genetech Research and Early Development.

• FDA Requests More Data For AstraZeneca Ovarian Cancer Drug

  7/2/2014

  An FDA advisory panel has recommended that AstraZeneca submit further clinical data on its experimental ovarian cancer drug olaparib before an approval is granted in the U.S. Last week, the panel voted 11-2 in favor of having AstraZeneca complete a second trial. The FDA noted that while the results of the first olaparib trial were positive, the study was too small and the panel was not convinced that the data could be readily reproduced.

• Bristol-Myers Skin Cancer Drug Clinical Trial Succeeds

  6/27/2014

  Bristol-Myers skin cancer drug nivolumab has met its primary end point at late-stage clinical trials, which has led the company to end the trial ahead of schedule. Bristol-Myers concluded that patients treated with the company’s nivolumab drug lived longer than patients who were treated with only chemotherapy. The researchers compared nivolumab with dacarbazine, which is used to treat skin cancer. Nivolumab was tested as a treatment for melanoma, which is considered to be the most deadly form of skin cancer. All patients in the study suffered from advanced melanoma.
• Novartis Researchers Discover New SARM Drug For Muscle Wasting

  6/26/2014

  Researchers at multinational drug producer Novartis have discovered a new transdermal SARM drug for treating muscle wasting caused by cancer. SARMs stimulate muscle growth without the adverse side effects of anabolic steroids. Muscle wasting caused by cancer particularly affects the elderly. Novartis’s new SARM drug candidate, AUSRM-057, was designed in hopes of treating patients suffering from muscle wasting.

• SLU Researchers Find MS Drug Can Treat Chemotherapy Pain

  6/25/2014

  Researchers at Saint Louis University have found a potential treatment for patients who suffer pain during chemotherapy. Daniela Salvemini, who works as a professor of pharmacological and physiological sciences at SLU, said that her team’s research uncovered a molecular pathway through which pain occurs during chemotherapy, and discovered how the MS drug FTY720 can stop that pain from occurring.

• Pfizer’s Arthritis Drug Shows Promise As Alopecia Universalis Treatment

  6/25/2014

  Researchers at Yale University announced that they were able to successfully treat a man suffering from alopecia universalis with tofacitinib citrate, an arthritis drug made by Pfizer. The researchers at Yale had their patient take 10mg of the tofacitinib citrate drug each day. After two months, hair grew on the scalp and certain areas of the face. After that, the patient was treated with 15 mg per day for the next 3 months. Eight months after the beginning of treatment, the man had grown eyebrows, eyelashes, armpit hair, and a full head of hair.

• Takeda Pharmaceuticals Stops Development Of Prostate Cancer Drug

  6/20/2014

  Takeda Pharmaceuticals, based out of Japan, has announced that it plans to stop the development of its prostate cancer drug. The drug, orteronel (TAK-700), has not met expectations in two Phase III trials run by the company. Orteronel is classified as a nonsteroidal, selective inhibitor of 17,20-lyase, which is an enzyme that plays a critical part in the production of steroidal hormones.
• Cyramza Drug Does Not Meet Primary End Point

  6/20/2014

  Eli Lilly has announced that the company’s Cyramza drug has not met its primary end point in a late-phase trial. Cyramza is a drug that is used to treat patients suffering from advanced liver cancer. Liver cancer is considered very difficult to treat, and patients typically have relatively limited treatment options in the advanced stages of the disease. Eli Lilly has said that, while the company knows the full results of the trial, it will not be releasing them to the scientific community until a conference that will be held at a later date.
• Apitope Begins Graves' Disease Drug Preclinical Studies

  6/20/2014

  Apitope has announced that it has begun preclinical studies on its Grave’s disease drug candidate, ATX-GD-459. ATX-GD-459 is classified as a peptide therapy. Apitope is a drug discovery and development company that primarily focuses on autoimmune and allergic diseases. Over 7.5 million people around the globe suffer from Graves’ disease, which is an autoimmune disorder.

• NJ's Atlantic Health System Announces Clinical Trials Website

  6/19/2014

  Researchers, doctors, and patients who are interested in learning more about clinical trials available in New Jersey will now have more information available to them. The Atlantic Health System, which includes medical centers in Morristown, Overlook, Chilton, and Newton, has announced a website with the purpose of providing information about clinical trials that are open and enrolling at member medical centers.