News
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.
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Biopharma is entering its second-quarter earnings season riding high on a wave of massive deals and venture capital flow, plus a clearing of regulatory and policy overhangs. What can industry watchers expect to hear on the upcoming investor calls?
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.
As antibody-drug conjugates advance and move into earlier lines of treatment, drug developers have to build gentler therapies that don’t just extend survival but improve it.
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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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The company declined to exercise the license option for Harpoon Therapeutics’ TriTAC HPN217 program for multiple myeloma, which targets B cell maturation antigen, or BCMA.
During Wednesday’s annual R&D Day, Moderna said it is culling four programs from its pipeline, including two molecules that had been discontinued last year by AstraZeneca.
The Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee voted 9-3 in favor of Alnylam’s patisiran on whether its benefits outweigh its risks for patients with cardiomyopathy induced by transthyretin amyloidosis.
The company plans to launch up to 15 new products and bring up to 50 new candidates to the clinic over the next five years as part of its growth plan, while scaling down COVID-19 manufacturing.
Following cases of hepatobiliary toxicity leading to liver decompensation, Eiger has decided to drop its Phase III LIMT-2 trial of peginterferon lambda in chronic hepatitis delta.
Continuing its clinical win streak, AbbVie’s Skyrizi showed signs of superiority against Johnson & Johnson’s Stelara in topline data from a head-to-head Phase III Crohn’s disease study.
Topline data for the company’s CRF1 antagonist crinecerfont showed a significant drop in daily glucocorticoid dose, while maintaining androgen control in adult patients with the genetic disorder.
The agency’s briefing document found Phase III results investigating patisiran’s effects versus placebo were “small, of questionable clinical meaningfulness, and may not be detectable by patients.”
Citing a challenging macro environment, 2seventy bio is launching a sweeping strategic reorganization that will see 40% of its staff laid off and CEO Nick Leschly stepping down.
As the Novartis generics and biosimilars division nears its spin-off, Sandoz has signed a commercialization agreement with Samsung Bioepis, gaining rights to the latter’s Stelara biosimilar.