Shares of Paris-based Abivax SA (Paris:ABVX) fell 25.4% to €21 (US$25.07) on March 8 after the company said it would halt a phase IIb/III trial of its lead candidate, ABX-464, in high-risk COVID-19 patients for lack of efficacy. The decision was based on a data safety monitoring board analysis that Abivax said revealed a "lower than expected rate (10.1%) of progression to severe disease or death with no difference between ABX-464 and placebo groups," each of which also received standard-of-care therapy.

Days after taking the unusual step, for a Chinese company, of terminating a couple of clinical programs, Bio-Thera Solutions Ltd. said it still plans to continue R&D in antibody-drug conjugates, but with a new technology platform, the company told BioWorld.

As the March 27 PDUFA date nears for idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel, also known as BB-2121), the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed chimeric antigen receptor CAR T-cell therapy from Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and Bluebird Bio Inc., investors are looking with increased favor on the approach.

In an unusual move for a Chinese company, Bio-Thera Solutions Ltd. terminated the clinical development of its Trop2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), BAT-8003, and its PD-1 monoclonal antibody, BAT-1306, a month after it halted the phase III-stage HER2-ADC candidate BAT-8001.

CAJICA, Colombia – Cuba’s Center for the State Control of Drugs, Equipment and Medical Devices gave the green light March 3 for phase III trials of a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate, even though very little peer-reviewed information has been published about it.