Drug Development
BMO Capital Markets is more impressed by Merck’s plans to replace lost Keytruda revenue than on Bristol Myers Squibb’s efforts to fill the expected void that will come from loss of exclusivity for both Opdivo and Eliquis.
FEATURED STORIES
BioSpace is launching an IPO dashboard to help the industry keep tabs on U.S. biotechs that have taken the public plunge in 2026.
Strange and bittersweet. That’s how Claire Mazumdar describes her plan to step down from the top spot at Bicara, a biotech she helped form, and head out on parental leave before transitioning into a new role.
The approval of Mirum Pharmaceuticals’ ALK2 inhibitor for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva on Friday adds a third option for patients who had long been without any treatments, joining Regeneron’s recently approved Pasatru and Ipsen’s Sohonos.
Subscribe to ClinicaSpace
Clinical trial results, research news, the latest in cancer and cell and gene therapy, in your inbox every Monday
THE LATEST
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll hear from Max Bronstein, CEO of Aviva Strategies and Teresa Barnes, Chief Executive Warrior of PF Warriors. We dig into why U.S. patients are losing access to rare disease trials happening abroad and how the FAIR Act’s accelerated, harmonized reviews could help the U.S. keep pace while getting lifesaving studies to patients faster.
EloraTZP—a combination of an amylin asset and Eli Lilly’s approved obesity drug Zepbound—made a clean sweep of the primary and secondary endpoints in a mid-stage trial of adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes, setting up the launch of a Phase 3 trial before the end of the year.
Eli Lilly’s weight loss pill Foundayo has had a “slower-than-hoped” launch, according to BMO Capital Markets, which contended that the indirect comparison data—despite falling short of definitive proof of superiority—could help the Indiana giant build momentum for its oral drug.
Summit Therapeutics scores a $2 billion equity investment from AstraZeneca to support ivonescimab’s late-stage development; uniQure crashes after four-year data from its Huntington’s disease gene therapy failed to impress; Kyverna Therapeutics brings new light to a struggling CAR T space in autoimmune disease.
The results are nevertheless “unprecedented,” UniQure executives said on an investor call Tuesday, emphasizing that the updated natural history database used as the control group for the Phase 1/2 study of AMT-130 underestimates disease progression.
Roche’s anti-myostatin therapy emugrobart is unlikely to elicit meaningful weight loss, according to an interim mid-stage analysis, prompting the pharma to return the asset rights to its subsidiary Chugai Pharmaceutical.
The all-stock deal gives Summit Therapeutics enough money to see through Phase 3 trials for the PD-1/VEGF bispecific ivonescimab—but keeps the asset fully in-house without giving up licensing rights.
Kodiak Sciences will head to regulators with one of the candidates, an anti-VEGF antibody called zenkuda, after the late-stage results.
Merck continues to diversify its cancer efforts as the clock ticks down on Keytruda’s patent, picking up rights to a preclinical oncology asset in a deal that could exceed $2 billion.
Merck and Daiichi Sankyo’s withdrawal of an accelerated approval request for the antibody-drug conjugate ifinatamab deruxtecan is a “net positive” for rivals like GSK and Roche, according to RBC Capital Markets.