Biogen
NEWS
Takeda’s cuts will go the deepest, affecting over 4,700 employees. Layoffs tied to M&A activity include BioNTech letting go of around 800 people at CureVac.
New mid-stage data from Biogen’s Ionis-partnered therapy diranersen served to both validate the tau hypothesis in Alzheimer’s disease and raise questions that could soon be elucidated by anti-tau candidates from Denali Therapeutics, Eisai and Eli Lilly.
Biogen’s new data, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, supports a tau-focused approach to the intractable neurodegenerative disease; psychedelics are back in the news with more positive data from Compass Pathways and final guidance from the FDA; and the ATTR-CM space got a major shakeup with the late-stage failure of AstraZeneca and Ionis’ antisense therapeutic.
Biogen touted an “unprecedented” drop in tau in a Phase 2 trial, backing the company’s decision to take diranersen to Phase 3 despite a missed primary endpoint and seemingly supporting the anti-tau approach.
Leqembi Iqlik can now be given at home throughout the entire course of treatment, setting it apart from Eli Lilly’s Kisunla, the only other anti-amyloid Alzheimer’s disease therapy on the market.
Many of the FDA’s decisions this quarter involve applications that have previously been delayed, declined or outright rejected, including one for an mRNA vaccine that became the center of controversy earlier this year.
RayThera will bring three preclinical assets into the Biogen fold, all with anti-inflammatory activity. The most mature of these assets is expected to enter Phase 1 development in Q3.
Biopharmas that announced Series B financing this year and are looking for employees as they grow include two companies that received $100 million or more. One has partnerships with three Big Pharmas.
Biogen and Denali’s Parkinson’s disease drug failed to significantly slow disease progression in a Phase 2b study, missing both primary and secondary endpoints.
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