Roche
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While a substantial portion of pipeline assets are externally sourced, many Big Pharmas are tapping into incubators and venture funds to uncover cutting-edge scientific trends, determine their future focus points and even carve out a niche in an emerging geographical hotspot.
The FDA greenlit multiple new drugs this month and issued some notable label expansions, including for Eli Lilly’s Kisunla. Meanwhile, the regulator turned away a cell therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and a gene therapy for the rare disease Sanfilippo syndrome.
Sarepta’s Elevidys is back on the market for ambulatory patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly plans to dissolve the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and “fix” the vaccine injury compensation program, Merck, AstraZeneca and more report Q2 earnings, Novo names a new leader and Roche’s trontinemab impresses at AAIC25.
In a Phase Ib/IIa trial, 91% of patients receiving the highest dose of trontinemab were amyloid negative after seven months of treatment, representing what B. Riley Securities called a “paradigm shift” to first-generation FDA-approved antibodies.
The European Union’s health regulatory agency did not endorse approving Elevidys for ambulatory patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
The latest round of terminations, which will take effect Sept. 15, comes after Genentech fired more than 500 employees in the last 15 months.
Roche obtained CT-173, a PYY mimetic, in its $2.7 billion acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics in December 2023. The company reported the change in its second quarter earnings call.
The voluntary pauses follow two patient deaths associated with the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy.
Sarepta Therapeutics faces serious FDA action after news broke of a third patient death, the FDA gets a new top drug regulator in George Tidmarsh, a handful of new drugs get turned away from the market and pharma companies continue to commit billions to reshoring manufacturing.
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