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The FDA will hold advisory committee meetings this week for previously rejected investigational therapies from Replimune and Capricor Therapeutics. Some industry leaders were surprised the meetings were called at all, while many have questioned the rationale behind them and other adcomms on deck.
As drug hunting gets more complex, where and how data is generated in partnerships between Big Pharmas and AI biotechs is becoming a headache for dealmakers.
With a Phase 3 failure denting the rare disease drug’s prospects, AstraZeneca has little room for error as it plots a path toward its ambitious 2030 sales target.
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Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Congressional letters sent to the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, BMS and AbbVie this week voicing concerns about the pharmas’ clinical trials in China highlight an ongoing discrepancy in how government and industry think about the rise of the Asian country’s biotech industry.
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Summit Therapeutics revealed positive Western data last week from a Phase 3 trial of lung cancer candidate ivonescimab. In a flipped geographical clinical trials landscape, what more will be required for Summit and China-based partner Akeso—and other transnational tandems—to secure FDA approval?
Safety will be the key determinant of in vivo CAR T therapies, according to H.C. Wainwright’s Mitchel Kapoor, who noted that convenience and efficacy won’t be enough to impress investors in this space. Eli Lilly, AbbVie, AstraZeneca and more are up for the challenge.
Sanofi had hoped the acquisition of Kymab would fill a major hole that will be left as autoimmune juggernaut Dupixent heads toward a patent cliff. Now, another therapy has failed to meet expectations.
IPO
Jennifer Doudna–founded Scribe Therapeutics intends to use the proceeds from the public offering—the first for a gene editing outfit in over two years—to support development of its epigenetic silencing therapy for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Facing pressure around the world to withdraw the rare kidney disease drug Tavneos, Amgen has launched a robust defense with real-world evidence to support the product’s benefit-risk profile.
Eli Lilly’s $3.8 billion play for AtaiBeckley has fueled speculation that Big Pharma is ready to embrace psychedelics. But while the acquisition does validate the drug class, analysts say it is unlikely to trigger a broad wave of Big Pharma deals.
Summit’s star asset is the PD-1/VEGF bispecific ivonescimab, which this week produced promising survival data from a late-stage global trial in non-small cell lung cancer. The FDA review is ongoing with a decision expected by Nov. 14.
Acmopatide met the main goal of a Phase 2 study in type 1 diabetes, but Roche is axing the investigational drug to prioritize enicepatide for weight loss, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular outcomes. Both assets come from the $2.7 billion buy of Carmot Therapeutics.
An unnamed pharma filed a citizen petition in April seeking reforms to the way the FDA publicly releases rejection letters, alleging that the policy “contravenes decades of agency practice.”
The addition of small molecule capacity at BeOne Medicines’ Hopewell site will support the company’s hematology efforts and bring total investment in the campus to more than $1 billion.