Neuroscience
Psychedelics, chiefly Compass Pathways’ COMP360, are unlikely to make an immediate dent in the sales of Johnson & Johnson’s depression drug Spravato, H.C. Wainwright’s Patrick Trucchio told BioSpace.
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.
Biogen’s new data, presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, supports a tau-focused approach to the intractable neurodegenerative disease; psychedelics are back in the news with more positive data from Compass Pathways and final guidance from the FDA; and the ATTR-CM space got a major shakeup with the late-stage failure of AstraZeneca and Ionis’ antisense therapeutic.
Eli Lilly’s anti-amyloid Alzheimer’s drug is designed to be stopped after patients drop below a certain amyloid level in the brain. However, at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Wednesday, Lilly revealed it is studying the potential of maintenance therapy for patients who need it.
Biogen touted an “unprecedented” drop in tau in a Phase 2 trial, backing the company’s decision to take diranersen to Phase 3 despite a missed primary endpoint and seemingly supporting the anti-tau approach.
Leqembi Iqlik can now be given at home throughout the entire course of treatment, setting it apart from Eli Lilly’s Kisunla, the only other anti-amyloid Alzheimer’s disease therapy on the market.
The failure of Roche’s Ionis-partnered tominersen in Huntington’s disease may indicate that Wave Life Sciences’ allele-specific antisense oligonucleotide candidate WVE-003 is on the right track, according to analysts at Rodman & Renshaw.
The trials, which were testing the tyrosine kinase inhibitor masitinib, had previously been paused. AB Science’s decision not to resume them was a matter of prioritization, not safety, the biotech said.
The lineup at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference will provide critical insight into where the industry is headed with regard to targets being explored to vanquish the elusive neurodegenerative disease.
Roche’s decision to discontinue the Ionis-partnered trials came soon after the biotech sustained a late-stage failure in ATTR-CM.
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