Orsobio Inc., already in the clinic with three candidates, has completed its $60 million series A financing. The company, CEO Mani Subramanian told BioWorld, has taken its time to find the right programs, put them together and only raised capital when it saw the programs had legs. Even the series A is a measured step, as Subramanian called the financing “modest.”
Hopes raised by the phase IIb Harmony study with FGF21 analogue efruxifermin (EFX) in pre-cirrhotic nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which appeared in a scientific journal last week, were less than fulfilled as Akero Therapeutics Inc. rolled out disappointing 36-week results from another, same-stage trial called Symmetry in NASH patients with cirrhosis. The company is forging ahead with U.S. FDA talks to figure out how a phase III effort might be designed.
The FDA has cleared IND applications for UBT-251 injection, a long-acting triple-targeted glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)/glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP)/glucagon receptor agonist developed by The United Bio-Technology (Hengqin) Co. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of The United Laboratories International Holdings Ltd., for adult type 2 diabetes and for overweight or obese subjects.
Three months after Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc. received its second complete response letter for obeticholic acid to treat fibrosis due to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, causing a mass layoff and the decision to drop development for the indication, Bologna, Italy-based Alfasigma SpA agreed to acquire the company for $19 per share in cash, or about $793.8 million.
Inventiva SA is getting $10 million up front and the possibility of $231 in clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones by exclusively licensing its nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) candidate, lanifibranor, to Hepalys Pharma Inc. to sell in Japan and South Korea, two massive markets for the indication.
Inventiva SA is getting $10 million up front and the possibility of $231 in clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones by exclusively licensing its nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) candidate, lanifibranor, to Hepalys Pharma Inc. to sell in Japan and South Korea, two massive markets for the indication.
Genflow Biosciences plc has received correspondence from Belgium’s Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAHMP) with a recommendation to initiate a phase I/II trial of GF-1002 in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), rather than in healthy volunteers.
Hepagene Therapeutics Inc. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for HPG-7233 for the treatment of patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and dyslipidemia.
In a potential breakthrough for diagnosis and treatment development of liver disease, the Biomarkers Consortium’s Noninvasive Biomarkers of Metabolic Liver Disease (NIMBLE) project demonstrated that a blood test could diagnose nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an increasingly common liver disease in the U.S. The study, published in Nature Medicine, identified four biomarkers that outperform current liquid biopsies for NASH.
Researchers from Guangdong Pharmaceutical University and affiliated organizations have discovered novel farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists as candidates for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).