Switzerland Archives

News and Trends 26 Jan 2017

Europe’s Largest Biotech Actelion Seals the Deal with J&J for €28B

Actelion will be acquired by J&J for a whopping €27.9B, and its early R&D pipeline will be spun out into a new Switzerland-based outfit. The wait is over folks: Actelion, the largest biotech in Europe and one of the only 9 to make it to the billion-euro club in 2016, has just announced its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson for a […]

January 26, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner

News and Trends 25 Jan 2017

Novartis Relies on Biotech to keep up its Solid Financial Performance

Novartis has announced excellent results for 2016. Could its strong focus on biotech be the key to the big pharma’s success? Novartis just released its 2016 financial report, boasting €45.2B ($48.5B) in net sales and its therapeutic antibody for psoriasis, Cosentyx (secukinumab), becoming a blockbuster. The Swiss pharma is suffering competition from generics, but it expects […]

January 25, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

News and Trends 23 Jan 2017

A Placebo beats the Largest European Biotech in Phase III

Actelion’s lead drug Opsumit has missed its primary endpoint in Phase III. What are the consequences for the biggest independent biotech in Europe? Actelion is a leader in treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). However, results from a Phase III trial evaluating Opsumit (macitentan) in patients with PAH due to Eisenmenger Syndrome have revealed that the drug […]

January 23, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

News and Trends 13 Jan 2017

UPDATE: J&J and Actelion settle on a price, R&D assets will be spun out

UPDATE (12/01/2017): J&J and Actelion have reportedly settled on a price: $260 (€245) per share, totaling more than $28 (€26) billion. The Swiss biotech’s R&D assets will be spun out into a new company that will remain independent. UPDATE (03/01/2017): The deal has veered towards splitting Actelion into two companies, one for its commercialized portfolio […]

January 13, 2017 - 4 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

News and Trends 12 Jan 2017

Antibody Treatment for Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes enters Phase II

Novartis is initiating Phase II trials with an antibody licensed from German biotech MorphoSys that tackles the obesity and diabetes epidemic. MorphoSys is a billion euro biotech that develops therapeutic antibodies for big names like Bayer, Pfizer, GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche and Janssen. The company is now adding type 2 diabetes to its long list of indications; bimagrumab will start Phase […]

January 12, 2017 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

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News and Trends 16 Dec 2016

Mini-Organs grown in Switzerland are Here to Change Drug Discovery

This week we travel to Lausanne, a thriving biotech hub in Switzerland. Here, QGel is working to replicate the complexity of life in vitro in lab-grown mini-organs to improve drug discovery. Cool, right? City: Lausanne, Switzerland Founded: 2009 Employees: 11-50 Financial data: Total of €12M raised (12/2016) Mission: QGel creates personalized arrays that can mimic the cellular architecture of different organs. […]

December 16, 2016 - 1 minutemin - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

News and Trends 8 Dec 2016

Meet the Newest ALS Pioneer Company from Switzerland

AL-S Pharma was just born with the only purpose of developing a drug candidate for ALS, a rare condition for which no effective treatments exist. The parents of the newborn company are Neurimmune, a biotech from Zurich that uses high throughput technology to develop treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and TVM Capital Life Science. […]

December 8, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

News and Trends 8 Nov 2016

Swiss SynBio adds CRISPR to its Toolkit for new Specialty Chemicals

Evolva is licensing the CRISPR patents of Emmanuelle Charpentier, in a deal with holding company ERS Genomics. This will grant access to the wonder gene-editing technology for one of the most important players in European SynBio. Headquartered in Switzerland, Evolva develops new ways to obtain ingredients and specialty chemicals with brewing and engineered microorganisms. Its […]

November 8, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Denise Neves Gameiro

News and Trends 4 Nov 2016

Roche hits a Speed Bump on the way to a Hemophilia Cure

The Swiss pharma is gearing up for a battle with Novo Nordisk in Hemophilia, but a safety setback might slow its progress. There is a ‘bloody’ battle in Europe that no one is talking about: who will claim the next Hemophilia blockbuster drug? Roche has established itself as a force to be reckoned with via […]

November 4, 2016 - 4 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner

News and Trends 27 Oct 2016

UPDATE: Future of CAR-T shaken by Novartis R&D Shuffle

After a promising kick off, Novartis is raising doubts about the future of its CAR-T program with its decision to dissolve and reintegrate the cell and gene therapy division into its immuno-oncology effort. Yes, you read that correctly: despite exciting progress by Novartis’s CAR-T therapy program, the company is reportedly disbanding the cell and gene therapy […]

October 27, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Evelyn Warner

News and Trends 25 Oct 2016

Meet the Cyborg Bacteria that Culture Themselves

What if you could program your bacteria to grow in any pattern you fancy? Researchers from ETH Zurich can, and this is huge news for the Biotech Industry! Scientists from ETH Zurich have developed a fully automated system that can precisely control bacterial growth using light. What’s more, unlike other prototypes, this system can adjust to any […]

October 25, 2016 - 3 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

News and Trends 24 Oct 2016

Here comes the First-ever Combination Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis

Actelion is overcoming the upcoming expiration of one of its most profitable patents and it’s using its strong position to make the leap into the crowded market of multiple sclerosis with the first-ever combination therapy. Actelion is one of the top billion-euro Biotechs in Europe and a leader in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Although the patent for […]

October 24, 2016 - 2 minutesmins - By Clara Rodríguez Fernández

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Switzerland

Europe’s Largest Biotech Actelion Seals the Deal with J&J for €28B

Novartis Relies on Biotech to keep up its Solid Financial Performance

A Placebo beats the Largest European Biotech in Phase III

UPDATE: J&J and Actelion settle on a price, R&D assets will be spun out

Antibody Treatment for Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes enters Phase II

Mini-Organs grown in Switzerland are Here to Change Drug Discovery

Meet the Newest ALS Pioneer Company from Switzerland

Swiss SynBio adds CRISPR to its Toolkit for new Specialty Chemicals

Roche hits a Speed Bump on the way to a Hemophilia Cure

UPDATE: Future of CAR-T shaken by Novartis R&D Shuffle

Meet the Cyborg Bacteria that Culture Themselves

Here comes the First-ever Combination Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest biotech news!

Catalonia: A biotech hub going from strength to strength, with Barcelona at its core

Top biotech deals of February 2025

Grab your free report on 3D organoids and explore their future potential

These 7 biotechs are shaping the next generation of endometriosis care

Connect with decision-makers and researchers worldwide for collaborative opportunities

Subscribe to our newsletter

Advertise with us

Catalonia: A biotech hub going from strength to strength, with Barcelona at its core

Top biotech deals of February 2025

Grab your free report on 3D organoids and explore their future potential

These 7 biotechs are shaping the next generation of endometriosis care

Connect with decision-makers and researchers worldwide for collaborative opportunities

Subscribe to our newsletter

Advertise with us

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