Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA
By Maggie Fick and Michael Erman SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence has yet to deliver on the most challenging aspect of drug development — finding new molecules that lead to major medical advances — but it is already streamlining less glamorous parts of the process, industry executives say. AI is helping find participants and sites for clinical trials and drafting documents for regulators, shaving weeks off these labor-intensive processes, seven large drugmakers and six smaller biotech companies said at the recent JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. It can take a decade and $2 billion to bring a new…
SHANGHAI, Jan 27 (Reuters) – China’s medicine regulator has ordered a halt to the import, sale and usage of a drug used to treat dementia associated with Alzheimer’s disease made by India’s Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, according to an announcement posted on Monday. The National Medical Products Administration said a recent remote inspection found shortcomings in the company’s production processes, including in the prevention of contamination and the quality management department’s fulfillment of duties. The body banned the sale of Sun Pharma’s rivastigmine hydrogen tartrate capsules. A spokesperson for Sun Pharma, India’s largest drugmaker by revenue, did not immediately respond to…
Jan 27 (Reuters) – UnitedHealth on Tuesday forecast 2026 adjusted profit slightly above analysts’ estimates, in a sign that medical cost-control measures under CEO Stephen Hemsley were beginning to reap results. Hemsley, who returned as CEO in May to restore investor and consumer trust in the healthcare behemoth, has been working to steer the company out of a difficult period that included the murder of a top executive, a surge in medical costs, a federal probe, and Americans’ anger at insurance industry practices. The company has been aiming for a return to growth in 2026, but expects a challenging recovery…
SHANGHAI, Jan 27 (Reuters) – German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim will license an experimental inflammatory bowel disease treatment from China’s Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, paying 42 million euros upfront and up to another 1,016 million euros if developmental, regulatory and sales milestones are met. The deal “further validates the innovation capabilities and technological leadership of the Group’s autoimmune research and development platform,” Simcere said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday. The licensed drug candidate, SIM0709, is designed to block pathways involved in the onset and progression of IBD. It is a pre-clinical asset, Simcere said in a…
Jan 27 (Reuters) – Intellia Therapeutics said on Tuesday that the U.S. drug regulator has lifted a clinical hold on one of its late-stage gene therapy trials, allowing the company to resume testing its experimental drug for a rare nerve disease. Shares of the drug developer surged over 20% in premarket trading. The Food and Drug Administration removed the hold on a study testing Intellia’s CRISPR-based therapy, nexiguran ziclumeran, in patients with a hereditary condition that causes nerve damage. The company said it plans to restart enrolling patients at the soonest. The drug is designed as a one-time infusion for…
Jan 28 (Reuters) – Elevance Health forecast 2026 profit below Wall Street expectations on Wednesday, as the health insurer expects higher medical costs to persist into the year. Elevance Health stock fell 6% before the bell on Wednesday. Health insurers have been battling persistently high costs after a churn in enrollment in Medicaid, the U.S. government plans for low-income people, hit the industry. As states redetermined eligibility, many healthier members fell off the rolls, leaving behind those who require medical services. Demand for healthcare has remained high over the last two years in areas such as behavioral health services, specialty…
By Harshita Mary Varghese and Patrick Wingrove Jan 28 (Reuters) – Novo Nordisk spent nearly $500 million on U.S. advertising for its GLP-1 drugs Wegovy and Ozempic in the first nine months of 2025, more than double what Eli Lilly shelled out for its rival medicines, as the Danish drugmaker fought for market share, data seen by Reuters shows. The data from advertising tracking firm MediaRadar, which has not been previously reported, shows Novo spent an estimated $316 million advertising its weight-loss drug Wegovy in the U.S. and $169 million on diabetes medication Ozempic from January through September last year.…
DUBLIN, Jan 28 (Reuters) – China has suspended imports of Irish beef due to an outbreak of bluetongue disease in cattle, just two weeks after it reopened its market for Irish beef for the first time in more than a year, Ireland’s agriculture ministry said on Wednesday. Ireland reported its first outbreak of the disease in a herd in the southeast of the country on Saturday and was informed by the Chinese authorities that they had suspended Irish beef imports from Tuesday, the ministry said. The virus has since been detected in three additional herds near the initial outbreak. China…
By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Teva Pharmaceutical Industries reported strong quarterly results on Wednesday but forecast lower net profit and revenue in 2026 on a more than $1 billion expected loss in sales of its generic version of a cancer and blood disorder drug. Israel-based Teva, the world’s largest generics drugmaker, said it earned 96 cents per diluted share, excluding one-time items, in the October to December quarter, up from 71 cents a share a year earlier. Revenue was up 11% in dollar terms at $4.71 billion and was boosted by a $500 million milestone payment from…
Jan 29 (Reuters) – Thermo Fisher Scientific on Thursday beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit and revenue on strong demand for its tools and services used in drug development by pharmaceutical clients. Life sciences firms are benefiting from improving conditions in the pharmaceutical market and reduced policy uncertainty, helping them offset continued weakness in academic research funding. Rival Danaher on Wednesday also posted better‑than‑expected fourth‑quarter results. The company posted quarterly revenue of $12.22 billion, topping estimates of $11.95 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Revenue for the analytical instrument segment rose more than 1% year-over-year to $2.22 billion,…