Bausch seeks to add eyecare assets in Allegro deal. AstraZeneca hopes preclinical PCSK9 inhibitor from Dogma can compete with dyslipidemia leaders. Exelixis options ADC candidates from Catalent and NBE.

The big pharma could not confirm whether AveXis co-founder and CSO Brian Kaspar and his brother, SVP of R&D Allan Kaspar, were fired. Instead, Novartis noted that the withholding of preclinical safety data for Zolgensma was limited to the action of a few employees. NIBR preclinical safety chief takes key role at AveXis

Emerging Company Profile: 1ST Biotherapeutics CEO highlights its lead candidate program – a novel small molecule c-Abl inhibitor, which touts superior blood-brain penetration and selectivity – for its potential to become a disease-modifying drug for Parkinson's disease.

More than 50% of drugs sold in the US are natural products, or derivatives of them, but drugmakers have long since tired of sifting, sorting, and attempting to synthesize the typically large and complex molecules that nature produces. Revolution Medicines Inc. aims to develop a platform that will break natural products into “building blocks” that medicinal chemists can then assemble and tweak in ways never before possible.