BioTech
Readout newsletter: CRISPR, Biogen, GLP-1 drugs
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The need-to-know this morning
- Novartis raised its financial outlook for the year after reporting better-than-expected sales and earnings for the first quarter. The Swiss drugmaker nominated Giovanni Caforio, the former CEO of Bristol Myers Squibb, as its new chairman to replace Joerg Reinhardt when he retires next year.
- The FDA approved a new immunotherapy for advanced bladder cancer made by ImmunityBio.
- Incyte acquired privately held Escient Pharmaceuticals for $750 million. Escient is developing drugs to treat inflammatory skin conditions including chronic hives and liver-associated itching.
- Neurocrine Biosciences reported positive results from a mid-stage study of an experimental treatment for major depressive disorder.
Researchers get one step closer to curing disease before birth
In a scientific first, a group of scientists reported yesterday that they used CRISPR to alter the DNA of laboratory monkeys in the womb, substantially reducing levels of a toxic protein that causes a fatal liver disease before the monkeys were even born.
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