Phase 3

The FDA last October paused Intellia Therapeutics’ late-stage CRISPR studies after detecting life-threatening enzyme elevations in one patient, who died a few days later.
Days after FDA Commissioner Marty Makary appeared to malign uniQure’s AMT-130 in an interview with CNBC, the agency confirmed to the biotech that a sham surgery–controlled study is needed before submitting the gene therapy for approval.
Aardvark Therapeutics is down 54% since Friday after the biotech said it detected “reversible cardiac observations” in a healthy volunteer study of its drug to treat extreme hunger in patients with the rare genetic disease.
A combination of Merck’s Keytruda and Pfizer’s Padcev could offer a chemotherapy-free treatment alternative for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, even those eligible for cisplatin treatment.
Novo Nordisk reported a loss in a head-to-head trial of CagriSema against Lilly’s Zepbound earlier this week. This time around, Lilly’s orforglipron bested Novo’s oral semaglutide in blood sugar control and weight reduction—albeit with a few extra discontinuations as compared to its rival.
HIV
At the 2026 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Gilead and Merck demonstrated that their respective daily oral HIV drugs can match current therapies in keeping the virus at bay.
Following a disappointing Phase 3 performance and given Gossamer Bio’s balance sheet, seralutinib’s path to the market for pulmonary arterial hypertension has become unclear, according to analysts at Guggenheim Partners.
Evidence of durability of psilocybin-based COMP360 is a key point for the FDA, according to Compass Pathways Chief Medical Officer Guy Goodwin. By providing 26 weeks’ worth of such data instead of the requested 12, the company is delivering “in spades,” he said.
Following the successful late-stage study in wet age-related macular degeneration, Ocular plans to meet with the FDA to determine a regulatory path for Axpaxli.
Infigratinib topped “even the most optimistic expectations” for efficacy and safety in the late-stage PROPEL 3 study in achondroplasia, Truist Securities analysts said Thursday.
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