Drug Development

In this episode of Denatured, you’ll hear from Jack Crawford, CEO of Demeetra, and Magnus Gustavsson, chief commercial officer at NorthX Biologics. We unpack the evolution of cell line development — CHO cells, targeted integration, transposases and the collaboration models speeding biologics from sequence to GMP.
FEATURED STORIES
Saol Therapeutics is the latest biotech to resubmit for approval of a drug rejected under former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, following REGENXBIO and Replimune.
IPO
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.
Molecular glue degraders are gaining traction in the clinic as well as funding from Big Pharma, with their potential to treat previously “undruggable” cancers and immunological diseases. Here are five clinical programs worth keeping an eye on.
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Google and Microsoft are already making inroads into drug development, but smaller biotechs focused on AI may end up leading the charge.
The pharma giant’s anti-PD-1 therapy met its dual primary endpoint of overall survival as a treatment regimen for non-small cell lung cancer patients, as the FDA’s Oct. 16 PDUFA date looms.  
Both low and high doses of Akero Therapeutics’ lead candidate efruxifermin failed to significantly outperform placebo at improving liver fibrosis without worsening non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Patients treated with Xenon Pharmaceuticals’ investigational potassium channel opener XEN1101 experienced a significant and dose-dependent reduction in seizure frequency.
At the six-month follow-up, about 40% of patients treated with Newron Pharmaceuticals’ evenamide improved so much that they no longer meet the Phase II study’s original eligibility criteria.
Though data became an issue in two separate meetings, the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee made a potentially precedent-setting decision by voting in favor of US WorldMeds’ neuroblastoma treatment.
Keytruda’s winning streak in bladder continues with positive data from the Phase III AMBASSADOR study, showing significantly better disease-free survival in muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma.
Patients with treatment-resistant depression treated with Johnson & Johnson’s Spravato were significantly more likely to reach remission and stay relapse-free for up to 32 weeks.
Data from the Mayo Clinic shows limited eligibility for the anti-amyloid treatment. However, Michael Irizarry, Eisai’s deputy chief clinical officer, says some patients could still be eligible.
The French pharma paid $500 million upfront, with up to $1 billion in future milestone payments, to co-develop and co-commercialize Teva’s Phase II anti-TL1A antibody for inflammatory bowel disease.