Twitter advertising pause or persist? Pharmas quietly weigh options in uncertain time – Endpoints News

As Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter — and almost-daily controversies — causes confusion and consternation, brand advertisers on the platform are trying to figure out what to do. And that includes pharma advertisers.
So far, the lone publicly on-the-record pharma pausing its advertising on the platform is Gilead Sciences and its subsidiary Kite.
Gilead initially said last week that it was temporarily pausing Twitter advertising. However, it amended its stance on Monday to remove the word “temporarily.”
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The therapeutic use of adeno-associated virus (AAV) accounts for the largest share of the global gene therapy industry due to its safety profile and proven efficacy in treating genetic diseases. Over the past 30 years, scientists, clinicians, and biotech industry professionals have worked with contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) to harness the natural abilities of AAV to deliver genetic information to specified cell types. The collaboration between AAV gene therapy developers and CDMOs has resulted in scalable manufacturing solutions to transition “a gene and a dream” into a biological therapeutic poised for successful patient outcomes and a greater number of commercialized treatments.
Serial biotech entrepreneur Lonnie Moulder has scored some big wins along the way, most notably the $9 billion he racked up selling MGI and Tesaro. And now the lead project he’s helping manage as executive chair is making a bold move into Phase III — damn the market turmoil that has largely iced IPOs.
The biotech, based in Waltham, MA with staffers primarily in the US with some clinical ops in China, is called Zenas BioPharma, and the Phase III trial they’ve set up is for obexelimab, a drug they got from Xencor last fall with a mix of equity and milestones.
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Clovis Oncology’s rocky 13-year run from startup developer to commercialization — while surviving accusations of playing fast and loose with the data — may be coming to a close. The biotech, helmed by founder and CEO Patrick Mahaffy, today explained in its quarterly report that it is on course to run out of cash in a matter of weeks and may have no alternative but to file for bankruptcy.
In the SEC filing, Clovis also revealed that the company laid off 115 staffers on November 7 as cash dwindled. That came just days after the company skipped an interest payment, according to the filing.
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A few weeks ago I had a chance to sit down with Rick Klausner and Hal Barron to discuss in some depth about their startup Altos Labs, which is using some very deep-pocket backing to establish an institute of their own to go after cell rejuvenation. There’s been plenty written about the unusual biotech, and I thought a lot of people might like to hear their thoughts, rather than pick and choose among the various stories out here. The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
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As Novartis continues to reshape itself, the company is shutting the doors to one of its gene therapy manufacturing sites in the US.
The closure of a site in Libertyville, IL, a city to the northeast of Chicago, follows a “comprehensive manufacturing site network evaluation,” the company said in a statement to Endpoints News.
The decision will cause 275 jobs to be axed, but the site is expected to remain operational through the end of next year, with some activities stopping earlier as others will take time to complete. The company will offer 90-day notifications to workers along with severance packages, outplacement support and other benefits.
Towards the end of the summer, Pfizer was facing the heat from a labor action at a manufacturing facility in western Australia as workers walked off the job in protest of what was seen as “substandard pay.” Now, another, similar labor action in Australia is turning up the heat even more.
According to the United Workers Union (UWU), over 100 workers had “downed tools” at a Pfizer manufacturing site in the Melbourne suburb of Mulgrave. According to the union, the action was taken due to Pfizer’s “refusal to consider a reasonable pay rise,” while also demanding a reduction in conditions. The UWU reports that Pfizer offered a 3% increase in the first year of the agreement with 4% in the second year and 3% in the final year. While Pfizer had offered “cash sweeteners,” they came with several conditions, including workers having to pay back a bonus if they leave or are fired.
More than half of people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the US are undiagnosed. It’s not a brand new problem, but it’s one AstraZeneca is shining a light on with marketing and awareness efforts during November’s National COPD Awareness Month.
AZ physician, spokesperson and leading pulmonologist MeiLan Han is lending her expertise to its effort and speaking out about the challenges and stigma of COPD.
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Looking to get an oncologist’s attention with a branded drug message? Keep it short and simple, but don’t forget the data. That’s some of the advice emerging from ZoomRx’s deep dive into oncology marketing messaging to healthcare professionals.
Messages that contained 10-14 words were found to be the most effective, which was measured in the study as a composite of how motivating, differentiated and believable the messages were.
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The FDA’s Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee on Wednesday voted 8-5 against Veru’s repurposed cancer drug, sabizabulin, as a treatment for certain hospitalized adults with Covid-19, arguing the benefits do not outweigh the risks.
The vote against Veru’s drug followed a close dissection of the pivotal randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial for sabizabulin in 204 patients hospitalized with Covid-19, which was stopped early due to efficacy and showed a strong mortality benefit.
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