Drug Development

Venture funds attending the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference said mounting funding pressures and Chinese competition have sharpened their focus on leadership qualities, from regulatory expertise and industry experience to the ability to scale—or step aside—as companies mature.
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After years stuck in the “doldrums,” the biopharma sector is in a “very good place” heading into the new year, analysts told BioSpace, with both rare and chronic diseases headlining investor and R&D interest as JPM26 kicks off.
Recent breakthroughs and three decades of progress in treating Huntington’s disease
Next-generation automation is closing the gap between curative science and real-world demand, enabling faster development, global consistency and broader patient access to CAR T therapies.
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The company’s first-in-class small molecule imipridone, ONC201, showed strong efficacy results in two early-stage clinical trials of 71 pediatric patients with H3K27M-mutant diffuse midline gliomas.
The clinical trial testing Seagen’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor Tukysa, in combination with Genentech’s Kadcyla, met the primary endpoint of progression-free survival in HER-2 breast cancer patients.
FDA
Following a nearly decade-long effort, Delcath Systems finally won the FDA’s greenlight for its Hepzato Kit for the liver-directed treatment of adult patients with metastatic uveal melanoma.
Following injection site reactions in a Phase I study, the company is developing a new formulation for its Friedreich’s ataxia candidate setting the asset’s clinical progress back significantly.
The company is ending its investigational drug GB0139’s run in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis after the small-molecule inhibitor failed to slow lung function decline in a Phase IIb study.
The clinical-stage company joins several others in the anti-CD47 space which have dropped studies amid poor results, including Gilead Sciences’ decision late last month to stop a Phase III trial.
Ahead of an FDA decision in the third quarter, Regeneron is touting promising durability data from the Phase III PULSAR trial for higher-dose Eylea in patients with wet age-related macular degeneration.
Insilico’s AI platform has attracted interest from a growing number of biopharma companies. Meanwhile, several other firms highlight their own AI technologies.
At AAIC, researchers presented studies using CRISPR-Cas9 in animal/organoid models of Alzheimer’s disease, but some experts doubt that such approaches will successfully translate to humans.
The FDA has four decisions on deck this week, including ones for two rare disease treatments from Ipsen and Regeneron.