Phase III

In writing literally hundreds of stories this year, two BioSpace writers, Alex Keown and Mark Terry, found certain stories particularly intriguing or impactful. Some of those were such big topics that they were covered over a series of stories. Looking back at 2018, here are their Top 10.

MorphoSys AG reported today that its licensee Janssen has announced that results from the ECLIPSE study demonstrated that Tremfya(R) (guselkumab) was superior to Cosentyx(R) (secukinumab) in treating adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis for the primary endpoint of a PASI 90 response at week 48.

As we look back over the year, we noticed some stories just grabbed readers more than others. Here’s a look at the top 10 stories of the year, including job cuts, best-selling drugs, up-and-coming companies,scandals, clinical trials, and more.

Although every year, big biopharma companies give up on some programs, 2018 seems like it has been marked by unusually extensive program abandonment.

Tremfya was being compared to Novartis’ Cosentyx (secukinumab) in a head-to-head study. In the trial, Tremfya showed that 84.5 percent of patients treated with the drug achieved at least 90 percent improvement in their baseline Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) score at 48 weeks.

It seems like every time we turned around this year, there was an exciting or—on a more visceral level, “Hey, that’s cool!” science story. Here’s a look at the top 9 really cool life science discoveries of the year, from outer space, to peanut allergies, to tortoise genomes.

White Americans make up the vast majority of clinical trial participants, despite evidence that some cancers affect minority populations in greater numbers.

MorphoSys AG announced today that according to the title of a presentation to be held next Wednesday afternoon CET (December 12, 2018) at the upcoming Inflammatory Skin Disease Summit (ISDS) conference in Vienna, Austria, guselkumab [Tremfya(R)] demonstrates superior long-term responses to secukinumab [Cosentyx(R)] at Week 48 in the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis, as results from the ECLIPSE trial.

AstraZeneca and its MedImmune division announced results from its Phase III EAGLE clinical trial. Imfinzi, in combination with tremelimumab, an anti-CTLA4 antibody, compared to standard-of-care (SoC) chemotherapy, failed to meet its primary endpoints in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) whose disease progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy, regardless of the PD-L1 status of their cancer.

Illinois-based AbbVie halted a Phase III trial evaluating Rovalpituzumab Tesirine (Rova-T) as a second-line therapy for advanced small-cell lung cancer after an Independent Data Monitoring Committee called for the stoppage due to shorter overall survival in the Rova-T arm.