Kevin Dunleavy

2 weeks ago | fiercepharma.com | Kevin Dunleavy

Six months after entering talks with U.S. private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), Sanofi has closed a deal to sell a 50% controlling stake of its consumer health business Opella for 10 billion euros ($11.4 billion), the French biopharma powerhouse said on Wednesday. As for Sanofi’s next move with its fresh injection of funds, don’t expect a mega-merger any time soon.

2 weeks ago | fiercepharma.com | Kevin Dunleavy

AstraZeneca has come up short in another phase 3 trial of the AKT inhibitor Truqap, raising more questions about the blockbuster potential of the first-in-class cancer treatment. Alongside its first-quarter earnings report, AZ revealed that an interim analysis of a study investigating Truqap in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer showed it was unlikely to meet the dual primary endpoints of progression-free survival and overall survival.

2 weeks ago | fiercepharma.com | Kevin Dunleavy

Seven weeks after opening a new $1 billion vaccine manufacturing facility in North Carolina, Merck has revealed that it is breaking ground on another $1 billion plant—this one in Wilmington, Delaware. The New Jersey company will build a 470,000-square-foot commercial production facility, which will make biologics and become the “future U.S. home” for its megablockbuster cancer treatment Keytruda, Merck said in its announcement.

2 weeks ago | fiercepharma.com | Kevin Dunleavy

As the second antibody-drug conjugate launched by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca, Datroway has a tough act to follow, coming on the heels of the companies’ emerging ADC cancer powerhouse Enhertu. But so far, so good for the TROP2-directed treatment, which was endorsed in Japan in December and in the U.S. in January. Through the end of March—which concluded Daiichi’s fiscal year—Datroway generated (PDF) sales of 1.4 billion Japanese yen ($10 million).

2 weeks ago | fiercepharma.com | Kevin Dunleavy

Merck KGaA’s long courtship of SpringWorks Therapeutics has come to fruition as the German drugmaker has bought out the Connecticut biopharma for an equity value of $3.9 billion, the companies said on Monday. The deal, which works out to $47 per share, enhances Merck KGaA’s presence in the U.S. and bolsters its oncology portfolio, as SpringWorks brings two approved drugs and a handful of rare disease pipeline candidates.