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UniQure and REGENXBIO are both dealing with FDA setbacks for their respective gene therapies, as regulatory experts question the FDA’s decision-making processes; CBER director Vinay Prasad is under probe for allegedly fostering a toxic workplace; Sarepta CEO Doug Ingram is stepping down after several years of tumult at the top of the muscular dystrophy–focused company; and Eli Lilly again tops Novo Nordisk in a weight loss trial.
FEATURED STORIES
Poplar Therapeutics is seeking a “step change” in the treatment of food allergy and other atopic conditions, with $95 million raised to date, including a $45 million series A extension that closed Tuesday.
Infrastructure and location have helped make Holly Springs a future hub for obesity drug production, with Amgen and Roche planning to manufacture GLP-1 therapies there to compete in the growing market.
Here’s how drug developers can best approach interactions with the agency following last year’s seismic changes to its leadership, workforce and policies.
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Eli Lilly’s win in a head-to-head trial drove Novo Nordisk’s market cap to pre-Wegovy levels not long after the victor became the first pharma company to top a $1 trillion valuation. It seems one company can do no right, while the other can do no wrong.
THE LATEST
Even as Biogen and Eisai’s Leqembi and Eli Lilly’s Kisunla slowly roll out onto the market, experts question the efficacy of these anti-amyloid antibodies and the amyloid hypothesis overall.
Novartis, Biogen, Takeda and Novo Nordisk are all betting on advances in the molecular glue degraders space, collectively investing billions in hopes of treating cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, cardiometabolic disease and more.
Some 90% of investigational drugs fail—and success rates are even more dire in the neuro space. Here, BioSpace looks at five clinical trial flops that stole headlines over the past 12 months.
Blackstone and Bain Capital are said to be among the final bidders for the Japanese company’s Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, sources told Reuters Friday.
RSV
Following news of RSV lower respiratory tract infections in infants immunized with Moderna’s investigational RNA vaccines, FDA advisors said the trial investigators should continue the study, while keeping an eye out for further safety signals.
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review flagged five drugs whose prices were raised in 2023 with no evidence to support it. Meanwhile, the makers of these drugs have been reporting double-digit sales growth for many of these products.
Incyte is abandoning its ALK2 blocker zilurgisertib, which it was trialing for myelofibrosis-associated anemia, while iTeos will deprioritize the development of inupadenant after it failed to meet the biotech’s clinical bar in a Phase II study of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
Ocaliva recently failed to secure the FDA’s traditional approval for primary biliary cholangitis due to safety concerns.
The company had said in October said that it was looking to license out its ex vivo editor renizgamglogene autogedtemcel to focus its resources on its in vivo platform.
The EMA approved a kidney disease–related label expansion for the blockbuster GLP-1 drug after a study showed reduced risk of death by 20%.