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With a greenlight for ibogaine to enter clinical testing and three unnamed products set to receive Commissioner’s National Priority Vouchers this week, it’s full speed ahead for psychedelics. But will sidestepping normal regulatory protocols actually be a net negative for the field?
IPO
With an IPO raise of $625 million, Kailera Therapeutics now holds the new record for the largest public market debut.
After receiving the FDA’s greenlight for Hunter syndrome drug Avlayah, Denali Therapeutics CEO Ryan Watts saw the culmination of 20 years of hard work unraveling the mysteries of the blood-brain barrier.
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FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
Doubling survival in pancreatic cancer, a long-fought rare disease approval, a massive IPO and ambitious biotech entrepreneurs have BioSpace Senior Editor Annalee Armstrong feeling upbeat about the biotech scene.
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Takeda’s layoffs include cutting 247 people in Massachusetts. The workforce reduction is meant to help offset investments in areas including a product launch for oral drug candidate zasocitinib, for which the pharma today announced positive Phase 3 data.
While tonlamarsen missed one of two co-primary endpoints, Kardigan says the drug has shown a clinically meaningful effect on blood pressure, supporting advancement into Phase 2b.
The FDA rejected the high-dose regimen of Spinraza in September last year due to manufacturing concerns.
William Blair hailed a positive readout in cutaneous lupus erythematosus as a turning point for Biogen, while RBC Capital analysts called the results “another derisking step” for the company’s immunology and inflammation pipeline.
The lack of a dose-response effect could be due to the high number of dropouts in the higher-dose Winrevair arm and the relatively small study population, a discussant for Merck explained.
The Insilico Medicine agreement plays into Eli Lilly’s recent AI push, anchored by a partnership last year with NVIDIA to build a supercomputer to optimize drug discovery and shorten the development timeline.
AbbVie’s Skyrizi appears to have stronger efficacy than Johnson & Johnson’s newly approved pill Icotyde, as well as a less frequent dosing schedule that patients could prefer, according to analysts at BMO Capital Markets.
The FDA has some big verdicts lined up in the second quarter, including one for a closely watched obesity drug that many anticipate will further intensify competition in weight loss.
Accumulating scientific evidence and industry interest from Eli Lilly, Altimmune and startup Baseline Therapeutics is driving further research on the therapeutic potential of GLP-1 receptor agonists in treating substance use disorders.
Former ACIP vice chair Robert Malone claimed that Andrew Nixon, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, “trashed” him with the media, adding that he resigned because “I do not like drama.”