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New data on Hengrui Pharma and Kailera Therapeutics’ investigational oral GLP-1 have validated the late-stage weight loss asset and paved the road for a regulatory submission in China, but analysts pointed to high rates of nausea and vomiting that could challenge the ongoing U.S. study.
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Molecular glue degraders are gaining traction in the clinic as well as funding from Big Pharma, with their potential to treat previously “undruggable” cancers and immunological diseases. Here are five clinical programs worth keeping an eye on.
Last month, the FDA launched TrialBlazer, intended to streamline the IND path and bring early clinical trials and medical innovation home to the U.S. It’s a start, but new agency leadership must see it through.
FDA
Significant leadership instability at the FDA—compounded by continued workforce attrition—led to a slight slowdown in overall regulatory productivity in the first half of this year, but the agency has been catching up of late.
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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 late-stage results for acoramidis, BridgeBio’s transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy candidate, indicate significant survival, functional and biomarker improvements over placebo.
Following a countersuit by Amgen and Horizon Therapeutics, the Federal Trade Commission has temporarily suspended its challenge to the multi-billion dollar merger between the two companies.
The Swiss pharma is returning the anti-TGFβ antibody NIS793 to Xoma Corporation, from which it bought the asset in 2015 for $37 million upfront.
While an initial analysis showed improvements in progression-free survival and objective response rate, a second analysis saw no improvement in overall survival.
A second trial shows Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy improves heart health. Meanwhile, many other drugs are beginning to face generic competition, including from newly approved biosimilars.
Following a late-stage victory on Monday, Exelixis on Thursday reported another Phase III win for its tyrosine kinase inhibitor Cabometyx—this time in advanced neuroendocrine tumors.
Wegovy’s highest dose significantly improved physical function and quality of life in obese patients with heart failure, according to results published Friday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
FDA
Amid one of the industry’s steepest patent cliffs, the regulator Thursday approved Sandoz’s Tyruko, the first biosimilar for treating relapsing multiple sclerosis in adults. Sandoz is a division of Novartis.
The world’s largest buyer of biopharma royalties is paying $300 million up front and $200 million in milestone payments for Ferring Pharmaceuticals’ FDA-approved bladder cancer drug Adstiladrin.
FDA
In the next two weeks, the FDA will hand out regulatory verdicts to BMS, Outlook Therapeutics and BioLineRx.