Rare diseases
While biopharma’s overarching mission is to develop innovative medicines to improve patient outcomes, for these six people, the motivation came from much closer to home.
Rhythm Pharmaceuticals’ Imcivree reduced fat—while boosting muscle—in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome.
Eli Lilly’s new JAK2 inhibitor—which it obtained from the recent acquisition of Ajax Therapeutics—reduced spleen volume by more than a third in 70% of patients with myelofibrosis.
After suffering the market withdrawal of its only product, Amylyx is gearing up for a pivotal Phase 3 readout in post-bariatric hypoglycemia. But the company’s driving ethos is still to treat “debilitating, devastating” neurodegenerative diseases, co-CEO Justin Klee told BioSpace.
After the FDA flagged patient deaths linked to Amgen’s rare disease drug Tavneos and called for its voluntary removal, the pharma recruited an independent data analysis from Duke researchers to help build the case for the drug’s continued market approval.
The discontinuation of Sanofi’s Phase 3 study for its complement inhibitor drug in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy delivers an ‘obviously disappointing’ blow to the broader drug class, according to William Blair.
The FDA rejected bitopertin in February amid reports of skepticism from former CBER director Vinay Prasad, who has since departed the agency.
The FDA has expanded the regulatory toolkit during President Donald Trump’s second term, adding new mechanisms for rare diseases while putting the Biden-era platform technology designation into action.
As the FDA tries to clarify its intent for former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary’s plausible mechanism framework for bespoke therapies, experts emphasize the importance of expanding its scope to encompass rare diseases that affect more than just one or a few individuals.
After discontinuing development of its lead asset, Fulcrum Therapeutics has provided more details on its restructure, with 48 of 57 employees headed out the door.
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