A roundup of top stories from UK pharma and healthcare, including the innovative manufacturing fund comprised in the government’s new life-sciences-focused budget; GSK’s autoimmune therapy deal with Chimagen Biosciences; Northern Ireland’s potential post-Brexit drug shortages, and Oxford Biomedica’s reband as OXB.

 

UK to create world-first ‘early warning system’ for pandemics (Gov.uk)

The UK will create the world’s first real-time surveillance system to monitor the threat of future pandemics, prevent disease, and protect the public.

Plans have been announced to form a new partnership between the government, Genomics England, UK Biobank, NHS England, and Oxford Nanopore – a UK-headquartered, world-leading life sciences company.

 

UK’s Labour Party unveils £520M innovative manufacturing fund as part of life-sci-heavy budget (Fierce Pharma)

Biopharma production efforts are set to receive a big boost in the U.K. thanks to a new budget rolled out by the Labour Party following this summer’s general election.

As part of the new budget presented Wednesday by the U.K.’s chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, the country is debuting a new capital grants vehicle known as the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF).

 

UK approves Lilly’s Alzheimer’s drug, but deemed ‘too expensive’ for wide use (Reuters)

Eli Lilly’s treatment for early Alzheimer’s was deemed too expensive for wide use by UK’s cost-effectiveness body on Wednesday, signalling that patients are unlikely to get access following approval by the country’s medicines regulator.
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved donanemab, branded as Kisunla, making it the second treatment for Alzheimer’s in the country after Leqembi, which has been developed by Eisai and Biogen.

 

UK government buys over 150,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic’s mpox vaccine (Reuters)

The UK government has ordered more than 150,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic’s mpox vaccine to boost its preparedness against a new form of the virus currently spreading in African countries.
While no cases of clade I mpox have yet been detected in the UK, the strain has rapidly spread outside the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the latest outbreak began, among its neighbors.

 

NI could face medicine shortages, warns pharmaceutical body (BBC)

A pharmaceutical body has warned of potential shortages of some medicines in Northern Ireland unless there is a delay to the implementation of the Windsor Framework. The framework is the post-Brexit deal between the EU and UK which governs trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

From 1 January, medicines sold here will need to be labelled ‘UK Only’.

 

UK firm GSK to pay $2.2bn over Zantac cancer claims (BBC)

UK pharmaceutical giant GSK says it will pay as much as $2.2bn (£1.68bn) to settle thousands of cases in US courts over claims that a discontinued version of its heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer.

The firm announced that it had reached agreements with 10 law firms who represent around 80,000 claimants. The settlements account for 93% of all cases.

 

GSK to acquire Chimagen’s CMG1A46 for autoimmune disease (Pharmaceutical Technology)

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has agreed to acquire Chimagen Biosciences’ CMG1A46, a clinical-stage therapy designed to target B cell-driven autoimmune diseases, for $300m upfront.

The acquisition of CMG1A46, a dual CD19 and CD20-targeted T cell engager, underlines GSK’s commitment to developing treatments for conditions such as lupus nephritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, with potential expansion into related autoimmune diseases.

 

Oxford Biomedica rebrands as OXB reinforcing transformation into leading global cell and gene therapy CDMO (GlobeNewswire)

Oxford Biomedica is rebranding as OXB, unveiling a more modern and recognisable visual identity that reinforces its transformation into a global pure-play cell and gene therapy CDMO. The new identity reflects OXB’s unique combination of technical excellence, innovation and unwavering commitment to deliver consistent high quality at every stage of viral vector development and manufacturing. The new branding represents the agile execution and creativity that enable OXB to deliver on clients’ goals, while also conveying accountability, professionalism and teamwork – core values that underpin OXB’s mission.

 

Avacta partners Tempus AI to boost cancer therapy development (Pharmaceutical Technology)

Avacta Therapeutics has entered a strategic collaboration with Tempus AI to advance the development of drugs in oncology. Avacta will gain access to Tempus’ extensive multimodal datasets, which include primary samples of tumours and data from more than 200,000 patients across a range of cancer types.

The collaboration will leverage the clinical data to explore the tumour microenvironment biology and fibroblast activation protein (FAP) activity, which are fundamental to Avacta’s pre|CISION technology.