Geron’s highly anticipated telomerase inhibitor has been given a user fee date by the US Food and Drug Administration next year and will also be subject to an advisory committee meeting, despite largely positive analyst sentiment on clinical results to date.

Geron’s telomerase inhibitor will also get standard review for transfusion-dependent anemia in adults with low- to intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), suggesting FDA reviewers may be less bullish on imetelstat’s clinical data than analysts have been.

Merck Life Science’s top executives in India tell Scrip how they are helping biologics companies in APAC on their mRNA therapy journey. In the wide-ranging discussion, use of AI, the startup environment for biotechs and the changing face of manufacturing in India also came up.

Biocon subsidiary Syngene and Strides associate Stelis have entered a deal with the potential to change India’s vaccines and biologics landscape, as the former's growth plans are catapulted. Meanwhile, the Strides group gets to cut debt by selling a unit that made the ill-fated Sputnik Light COVID-19 vaccine and after Akston Biosciences terminated another COVID-19 vaccine alliance