Rare diseases
Novo Nordisk’s bispecific antibody Mim8 prevented bleeding events and caused no adverse safety events in the Phase III FRONTIER3 trial. The company plans to file for approval this year, hoping to compete in the hemophilia A space with Roche’s blockbuster Hemlibra.
Despite the discontinuations, CEO Pascal Soriot said AstraZeneca’s December 2020 acquisition of Alexion was a “fantastic” deal for the pharma.
Faced with the encroaching threats of patent expirations and generics, biopharma companies in 2024 invested 33% more in licensing deals, on average, than in 2023 with an eye toward enriching their pipelines with novel and potentially more effective therapies.
The Massachusetts-based biotech plans to use the funds to push its candidates into mid-stage clinical trials in a space dominated by Vertex.
The rare disease space is awaiting two FDA verdicts in February, one for a genetic disease and another for a non-malignant tumor.
Several companies—including JCR Pharmaceuticals, Denali Therapeutics and Regenxbio—have products in the pipeline that could improve treatment options for this rare disease.
Novartis was among the most prolific pharma dealmakers in 2024, a trend that it expects to continue with more bolt-on deals this year to set up for sustainable long-term growth.
Riding recent momentum in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy space, Capricor Therapeutics, Wave Life Sciences, Regenxbio and more aim to deliver the next wave of progress with near-term data and regulatory milestones.
Achondroplasia, which affects around one in 20,000 babies, has just one approved treatment: BioMarin’s Voxzogo. However, new investigational treatments are vying to compete in the area.
In a good-news-bad-news week for Biogen, the company will cut an undisclosed number of employees, just as a higher dose of its Ionis-partnered therapy Spinraza for spinal muscular atrophy will be considered by the FDA and EMA.
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