Drug Development
Last month, Revolution Medicines’ RAS inhibitor doubled survival in a Phase 3 pancreatic cancer trial. On the biotech’s heels are Immuneering, Actuate Therapeutics, Erasca and more, looking to improve on that result with increased tolerability—and more time for patients.
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After years of suffering from a bear market and more than 14 months of geopolitical turmoil shaking the macroenvironment, biotech appears to be moving on.
New guidelines from two leading medical associations suggest that efforts to reduce bad cholesterol should focus on maintaining low levels of two key lipoproteins. Big pharma is all in, looking to improve on the standard statins to help vanquish America’s number one killer: heart disease.
Biogen’s Qalsody won FDA approval in 2023 to treat a rare, genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. On Tuesday, QurAlis presented interim Phase 2 data showing the potential of a similar drug to more broadly treat the neurodegenerative disease.
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Merck is eyeing a quick review for its lipid-lowering drug candidate enlicitide, which in December was awarded a Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher.
While tonlamarsen missed one of two co-primary endpoints, Kardigan says the drug has shown a clinically meaningful effect on blood pressure, supporting advancement into Phase 2b.
William Blair hailed a positive readout in cutaneous lupus erythematosus as a turning point for Biogen, while RBC Capital analysts called the results “another derisking step” for the company’s immunology and inflammation pipeline.
The lack of a dose-response effect could be due to the high number of dropouts in the higher-dose Winrevair arm and the relatively small study population, a discussant for Merck explained.
Accumulating scientific evidence and industry interest from Eli Lilly, Altimmune and startup Baseline Therapeutics is driving further research on the therapeutic potential of GLP-1 receptor agonists in treating substance use disorders.
At the AD/PD annual meeting, Eisai presented real-world data suggesting Leqembi’s long-term safety and efficacy in people homozygous for APOE4, who were identified in trials as being at higher risk of brain bleeds while on the treatment. Alzheon, meanwhile, added further detail to trial results of its candidate in patients with the same genetic profile.
While participants on a lower dose of Wave Life Sciences’ RNA therapy lost 5.3% total fat at the six-month mark, those receiving the higher dose saw a less than 1% drop at three months.
Beam is now in the strongest position of all companies advancing a genetic therapy for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, according to analysts at William Blair.
Biomarker data for Sarepta Therapeutics’ RNA programs, licensed from Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, are “competitive” and “strong,” according to analysts at Jefferies, which projected over $1 billion in peak sales.
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll listen to Sergey Jakimov, managing partner at LongeVC and Artem Trotsyuk, operating partner, US, LongeVC. We speak about how developers in the longevity space should stop chasing aging as an abstract target and concentrate on specific mechanisms that can clearly tackle age-related conditions.