Drug Development

Sanofi had hoped the acquisition of Kymab would fill a major hole that will be left as autoimmune juggernaut Dupixent heads toward a patent cliff. Now, another therapy has failed to meet expectations.
FEATURED STORIES
After the trailblazing approval of Sanofi’s Tzield for stage 3 type 1 diabetes, several companies, including SAB Biotherapeutics and Eledon Pharmaceuticals, are vying for a spot in the landscape with innovative approaches—and experts say there’s room for all of them.
Poised to become the first company to achieve a regulatory filing for a cell therapy in autoimmune disease, Kyverna Therapeutics is building a pipeline-in-a-product to change the treatment paradigm.
New mid-stage data from Biogen’s Ionis-partnered therapy diranersen served to both validate the tau hypothesis in Alzheimer’s disease and raise questions that could soon be elucidated by anti-tau candidates from Denali Therapeutics, Eisai and Eli Lilly.
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Second quarter earnings continue to roll with Novartis and Roche reporting this week; Eli Lilly’s AtaiBeckley buy for up to $3.8 billion offers clear “validation” for the fledgling psychedelics space; more drama unfolds at FDA as the agency goes back and forth on its policy of publishing complete response letters in real-time; and IPO fever continues.
Agios Pharmaceuticals’ sickle cell disease candidate didn’t prove any better than Novo Nordisk’s investigational PK activator or the biopharma’s own asset that is currently under FDA review for the indication.
IPO
Axiom Biosciences is thinking outside of the box, betting on a public debut in Hong Kong to raise capital and grow into a global company.
Eli Lilly’s proposed acquisition of AtaiBeckley is “the clearest strategic validation to date” of psychedelics as an emerging pharmaceutical category, according to H.C. Wainwright. The analyst cautioned, however, that the transaction should not be seen as “supporting a uniform re-rating of every psychedelic developer.”
The FDA is currently reviewing Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ povetacicept, with a target action date of Nov. 30. If approved, the drug could benefit from campaigns from Novartis and Vera Therapeutics for their recently approved IgAN therapies Fabhalta and Trutakna.
Structural gaps in areas including clinical execution and funding limit India’s ability to scale up innovation, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group and HealthKois.
Insmed’s inhalable candidate showed “impressive” long-term efficacy in pulmonary arterial hypertension, according to analysts at Guggenheim Partners, with functional and biomarker improvements through one year of follow-up.
Merck’s once-daily pill is the first oral PCSK9 inhibitor to hit the market for high cholesterol, beating AstraZeneca in the race to develop more accessible treatment options.
In this episode of Denatured, you’ll hear from Lance Alstodt, chairman and CEO at Biorestorative Therapies, and Paul Mieyal, chief business officer at South Rampart Pharma. We explore why pain has remained such a difficult therapeutic area to tackle and one of the biggest unmet needs today, and how non-opioid mechanisms to regenerative therapies could reshape the future of treatment.
The Phase 3 results are the first direct proof-of-concept for an ADC replacing platinum-based chemo in a first-line standard-of-care regimen for non-small cell lung cancer, according to Leerink Partners. The readout also represents the second late-stage win for the Merck and Kelun-Biotech asset, called sac-TMT.