Drug Development

While Eli Lilly’s diabetes blockbuster was non-inferior to its older incretin therapy Trulicity in a highly anticipated Phase III cardiovascular outcomes trial, analysts had hoped for statistical significance in reducing major events such as cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke.
FEATURED STORIES
Beginning this week in Chicago, the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual conference will feature presentations that could have far-reaching implications for breast and blood cancers and more.
The FDA and NIH recently announced plans to phase out animal testing requirements for some therapies. While organoid and AI providers celebrate, scientists warn that questions over safety, applicability and implementation remain.
As the Trump administration slashes funding for HIV-related research and infrastructure, Gilead, Immunocore and more are targeting the next goalpost: a cure.
Subscribe to ClinicaSpace
Clinical trial results, research news, the latest in cancer and cell and gene therapy, in your inbox every Monday
THE LATEST
In combination with Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide, marketed as Zepbound for obesity, Scholar Rock’s monolonal antibody helped patients lose the same amount of weight as patients on tirzepatide alone while preserving more muscle mass.
Andembry is the first monthly Factor XIIa inhibitor for the prevention of HAE attacks and will be available to patients “before the end of June,” CSL announced.
Jefferies analysts said on Tuesday that Ventyx could leverage its mid-stage data for VTX3232 to position the oral drug candidate as a treatment for other neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s.
Venclexta, when combined with azacitidine, elicited an overall survival benefit below 10% in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.
At 12 weeks, weight loss ranged from 2.6% to 11.3%, compared to a gain of 0.2% in the placebo group. Guggenheim analysts were also impressed by the tolerability profile.
Analysts at Jefferies give Roche and Prothena’s Phase III study just a 25% to 40% probability of success.
Analysts at Truist Securities called J&J’s CAR T readout “compelling,” noting that the efficacy figures could position the cell therapy as a formidable competitor to the current standard of care, Gilead’s Yescarta.
Sarepta’s shares crashed 41% in premarket trading Monday morning to $21.01 after the biotech reported a second death from acute liver failure, a known side effect of adeno-associated virus-based gene therapies.
AstraZeneca, Pfizer and more are leveraging the computational power of AI to better design trials, predict the potential efficacy and safety profiles of their molecules and synthesize massive multi-omic information to gain a more complete understanding of challenging cancers.
While cancelled NIH grants and regulatory uncertainty are less hospitable to clinical research in the U.S., Europe must play its cards right to attract more studies.