Catch up on all the latest pharmaceutical industry news from the past month, from breakthroughs in gene therapy to promising drug approvals and more
Words by Isabel O’Brien
4 December
The US government announces a major step towards increasing access to potentially life-changing treatments for sickle cell disease, with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services securing agreements with Bluebird Bio and Vertex Pharmaceuticals for participation in its new Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model.
9 December
In a significant development for the treatment of multiple myeloma, phase III results for GSK’s drug belantamab mafodotin show it can reduce the risk of death by 42% in patients who have relapsed or become resistant to previous treatments. The data comes from the DREAMM-7 trial, which tested the drug against J&J’s treatment daratumumab.
10 December
According to a new report from the ABPI, the UK is making progress in its clinical trials ranking, moving up in phase III and II, but still lagging behind European countries such as Spain and Germany. The number of industry trials increased from 411 in 2022 to 426 in 2023, with strong growth in phase III but a decline in phase I trials.
13 December
Dr Dietmar Berger is announced as Gilead Sciences new Chief Medical Officer. He will succeed Dr Merdad Parsey at the start of 2025. Berger, a board-certified internist, haematologist and oncologist, brings over 25 years of experience in developing and delivering innovative medicines across a broad range of therapeutic areas to the role.
14 December
Eli Lilly’s experimental Chrohn’s disease drug mirikizumab moves a step closer to approval in the European Union, following a positive recommendation from the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use. The biologic has shown significant results in clinical trials, offering new hope for patients.
16 December
A new report by the Office of Health Economics (OHE), commissioned by Pfizer, finds that respiratory infections cost UK businesses £44bn a year. The study highlights that presenteeism, where employees work while ill and produce lower quality work, accounts for more than half of these losses, surpassing absenteeism in terms of cost.
18 December
Tessera Therapeutics announces a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with funding of up to $50m to develop an in vivo genetic therapy for sickle cell disease (SCD). The collaboration will aim to create one-time curative treatment for SCD that Tessera hopes will be accessible globally.
20 December
Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug tirzepatide becomes the first medication approved by the FDA to treat obstructive sleep apnea, a common but serious sleep disorder. The approval marks a significant step for both the drugmaker and the millions of people affected by sleep apnea worldwide.
