Rare diseases
Dozens of biotechs reported earnings this week. BioSpace recaps key highlights from Capricor Therapeutics, Legend Biotech, Inovio and Allogene.
Small-molecule drugs account for nearly half of the most valuable investigational therapies for orphan diseases, according to analytics firm Evaluate.
After the FDA’s first-ever public listening meeting on data-sharing in the cell and gene therapy space, new draft guidance aims to standardize the practice. But recent decisions call into question whether shared evidence and prior knowledge will accelerate development in rare diseases.
Data from BridgeBio Pharma’s Phase 3 FORTIFY study show that BBP-418 significantly increases levels of a key disease biomarker that helps stabilize muscles in patients with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy.
Data presented at the 2026 Muscular Dystrophy Association meeting could have readthroughs to companies developing therapies for spinal muscular atrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Becker muscular dystrophy.
Capricor Therapeutics’ deramiocel was rejected in July 2025, potentially caught between Nicole Verdun, a former top biologics regulator at the FDA, and outgoing Vinay Prasad, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
The U.S. Senate has a plan to improve drug development for rare disease patients. The exit of controversial CBER chief Vinay Prasad will help clear the path.
The senator, who has long advocated for expanding access to experimental therapies, reportedly called the FDA’s request for a sham surgery–controlled Phase 3 trial for uniQure’s Huntington’s disease gene therapy “bureaucratic idiocy.”
Some biotechs that had seen regulatory setbacks under Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research director Vinay Prasad experienced stock bumps Monday morning. Under Prasad’s leadership, the rare disease space has suffered a series of controversial rejections.
Servier will pick up Ojemda, which received FDA approval in 2024 to treat pediatric glioma. The drug clocked sales of $155 million for Day One Biopharmaceuticals in 2025.
PRESS RELEASES