Moving from speculation to science during a pandemic

It was the early ’90s, and a medical student in Caracas, Venezuela, named Florencia Segal was attending rounds at a state hospital as part of her training. She was struck by the number of patients with opportunistic infections due to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and the grim picture that they faced. There were no effective therapies available to treat the roots of their disease.

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It takes an R&D village to fight a pandemic

Gervais Tougas never thought he’d have to face this again. In 2003, while serving as a division head in one of McMaster University’s teaching hospitals, a SARS outbreak in nearby Toronto, Canada tossed his organization into uncharted waters. Like its coronavirus cousin, COVID-19, SARS posed an imminent, deadly threat to public health. To ensure the safety of the hospital and the surrounding community, the entire organization had to pivot from its usual medical practice and prepare itself to weather the outbreak.

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Novartis announces FDA approval of MET inhibitor Tabrecta™ for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer with METex14


 

  • Tabrecta (capmatinib, formerly INC280) is the first and only therapy approved by the FDA to specifically target metastatic NSCLC with a mutation that leads to MET exon 14 skipping (METex14)1 
  • ~4,000-5,000 patients are diagnosed with METex14 metastatic NSCLC each year in the US and may face poor prognosis due to presence of the mutation2-3
     
  • Tabrecta demonstrated an overall response rate of 68% and 41% in treatment-naive and previously treated METex14 patients, …
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Clinical trial comes together in weeks to address coronavirus

Members of the global research community have joined forces in unconventional configurations to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. And they’re working faster than ever before to find solutions.

A new clinical trial illustrates how quickly teams are assembling across industry, academia and government to meet patients’ needs. Planning for the large, Novartis-sponsored trial – which will evaluate the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of …

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Novartis receives CHMP positive opinion for Enerzair® Breezhaler® (QVM149), a potential first-in-class inhaled LABA/LAMA/ICS combination for uncontrolled asthma

  • CHMP positive opinion advances efforts to provide first-in-class LABA/LAMA/ICS combination for patients whose asthma is uncontrolled with LABA/ICS standard-of-care treatment in the EU.
     
  • Digital companion with app and sensor that provide inhalation confirmation, medication reminders and access to objective data to better support therapeutic decisions also covered by positive opinion for Enerzair® Breezhaler® (QVM149; IND/GLY/MF).
     
  • Decision supported by robust efficacy and safety …
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