Drug Development
After debuting on the public markets with $256.3 million and raking in an additional $472 million, Veradermics has emerged as one of biotech’s biggest post-IPO standouts. CEO Reid Waldman credits the weight loss craze for establishing consumer-driven channels.
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A recent FDA reversal sparked new hope for patients with Huntington’s disease. Flying under the radar, Skyhawk Therapeutics revealed 12-month functional data from a midstage trial of its own candidate showing improvements on a key disease measurement scale.
Recent approvals for Corcept Therapeutics and Merck have injected momentum into the space, where GSK, Allarity Therapeutics, OSE Immunotherapies and others are advancing their own candidates.
The FDA plans to hold an advisory committee meeting to discuss Capricor Therapeutics’ application for deramiocel, which the agency rejected last July. The news surprised CEO Linda Marbán, who told BioSpace the FDA has not communicated any issues of concern with the company’s resubmitted application.
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Some 90% of investigational drugs fail—and success rates are even more dire in the neuro space. Here, BioSpace looks at five clinical trial flops that stole headlines over the past 12 months.
Following news of RSV lower respiratory tract infections in infants immunized with Moderna’s investigational RNA vaccines, FDA advisors said the trial investigators should continue the study, while keeping an eye out for further safety signals.
Incyte is abandoning its ALK2 blocker zilurgisertib, which it was trialing for myelofibrosis-associated anemia, while iTeos will deprioritize the development of inupadenant after it failed to meet the biotech’s clinical bar in a Phase II study of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
Ocaliva recently failed to secure the FDA’s traditional approval for primary biliary cholangitis due to safety concerns.
The EMA approved a kidney disease–related label expansion for the blockbuster GLP-1 drug after a study showed reduced risk of death by 20%.
Pfizer, facing increasing pressure from Novartis, is touting a Phase III win for Ibrance as the first clinical evidence supporting the CDK4/6 inhibitor class’ use in patients with a specific type of breast cancer.
Keros’ stock plummeted more than 70% premarket Thursday and Truist Securities analysts predict it will remain under pressure until the safety concerns for cibotercept are resolved.
Candel’s trial was conducted under the FDA’s Special Protocol Assessment program, meaning that its data could be used as a basis for a regulatory application.
The discontinuation caps off a turbulent development path for izokibep, which in September 2023 produced disappointing results from Phase IIb/III study in hidradenitis suppurativa that was found to have had dosing errors.
Ending the diagnostic journey for patients, particularly those with rare diseases, improves patients’ quality of life while reducing costs to healthcare systems.