Biogen Financial News

By Bhanvi Satija and Mariam Sunny

Federal health officials have approved the first pill to specifically treat depression after childbirth

(Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) and Sage Therapeutics' oral pill to treat postpartum depression (PPD (NASDAQ:PPD)) in adults.

postpartum depression, a milestone considered likely to increase recognition and treatment of a debilitating condition that afflicts about a half-million women in the United States every year. Clinical trial data show the pill works quickly, beginning to ease depression in as little as three days, significantly faster than general antidepressants, which can take two weeks or longer to have an effect.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval for the first-ever pill specifically designed to treat severe depression occurring after childbirth. Known as Zurzuvae, the oral medication offers new hope for thousands of new mothers in the United States who experience postpartum depression each year. Postpartum depression affects an estimated 400,000 individuals annually, and while many recover naturally within a few weeks, some may suffer for months or even years.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted approval of the drug, Zurzuvae, for adults experiencing severe depression related to childbirth or pregnancy. The pill is taken once a day for 14 days. «Having access to an oral medication will be a beneficial option for many of these women coping with extreme, and sometimes life-threatening, feelings,» said Dr.

Investing.com — Here is your Pro Recap of 4 head-turning deal dispatches you may have missed last week: merger deals at Biogen/Reata Pharmaceuticals, Banc of California/PacWest, Maxlinear terminates merger with Silicon Motion, and Volkswagen acquires minority stake in XPeng.

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. 

Alzheimer’s treatment developer Biogen is spending more than $7 billion to buy Reata Pharmaceuticals and bolster its rare disease treatments

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(Reuters) -Biogen said it would buy biotech firm Reata Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RETA) for roughly $6.5 billion to expand its presence in the rare disease drugs market.

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By Deena Beasley

Alzheimer's disease experts are revamping the way doctors diagnose patients with the progressive brain disorder — the most common type of dementia — by devising a seven-point rating scale based on cognitive and biological changes in the patient. The proposed guidelines, unveiled by experts on Sunday in a report issued at an Alzheimer's Association conference in Amsterdam, embrace a numerical staging system assessing disease progression similar to the one used in cancer diagnoses. They also eliminate the use of terms like mild, moderate and severe. The revamp — replacing guidelines issued in 2018 — was prompted by the increased availability of tests detecting key Alzheimer's-related proteins such as beta amyloid in the blood and new treatments that require confirmation of disease pathology prior to use. The new system is designed to be more accurate and better reflect a person's underlying disease, according to Dr. Clifford Jack of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, lead author of the report sponsored by the Alzheimer's Association and the National Institute of Aging, a part of the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health. The change comes at a time when doctors are preparing to identify and treat patients with Eisai and Biogen's drug Leqembi, which won Food and Drug Administration approval this month, and Eli Lilly's experimental drug donanemab, which is now under FDA review.

By Julie Steenhuysen

By Julie Steenhuysen

Biotech companies often spend years—and millions of dollars—to develop a drug they hope will make it to market. If the day comes when their medicine finally gets regulatory approval, it is usually a cause for celebration by management and employees. Investors should curb their enthusiasm.

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(Reuters) — Eisai Co (OTC:ESAIY) Ltd and Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB)'s Leqembi emerged as the first Alzheimer's treatment to win the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's standard approval on Thursday, a milestone in drug development for a disease that has seen multiple failures in the past.

U.S. officials have granted full approval to a closely watched Alzheimer’s drug for patients with early stages of the disease

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