September 2016

Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Janssen) announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved INVOKAMET® XR—a once-daily, fixed-dose combination therapy of canagliflozin and metformin hydrochloride extended-release (XR)—for first-line use as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve blood glucose control in adults with type 2 diabetes when treatment with the two medications is appropriate. INVOKAMET® XR combines INVOKANA® (canagliflozin), the most prescribed sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, with more than 9 million U.S. prescriptions since launch, and an XR formulation of metformin. Metformin is commonly prescribed as an initial therapy for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Affilogic jointly announced that the companies have entered into a research collaboration to explore using Affilogic’s proprietary Nanofitins platform in therapies targeting the central nervous system

H. Lundbeck A/S  announced the headline conclusions from the first clinical phase III study, STARSHINE, in the ongoing phase III programme evaluating the efficacy of the investigational drug idalopirdine for the symptomatic treatment of patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

AstraZeneca announced its decision to withdraw the Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) submitted to the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in June 2015 for cediranib in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy followed by maintenance monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer (including fallopian tube or primary peritoneal sub types).

A new, computer-based screening method could reveal the virus-fighting potential of drugs originally developed to treat other conditions, reports a study in PLOS Computational Biology.