Challenges to ongoing efforts to provide effective aid for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 continued April 8, with two new trial failures reported. A phase III trial testing the Olumiant (baricitinib) vs. placebo, both on top of standard of care, missed its primary endpoint of progression to non-invasive ventilation, invasive mechanical ventilation or death, said drugmakers Eli Lilly and Co. and Incyte Corp. A phase II trial testing Beigene Ltd.'s Brukinsa (zanubrutinib) vs. placebo in patients hospitalized with respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 also fell short, missing its co-primary efficacy endpoints of respiratory failure-free survival or reduction in days on oxygen.
HONG KONG – Covig-19, an anti-SARS-CoV-2 hyperimmune immunoglobulin therapy that Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. developed alongside the Covig-19 Plasma Alliance, has failed to meet its endpoints in a global phase III trial. The multicenter Inpatient Treatment with Anti-Coronavirus Immunoglobulin trial was sponsored and funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It aimed to demonstrate the drug’s safety, tolerability and efficacy in hospitalized adults at the onset of COVID-19 progression, the companies said.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Algernon, Aurinia, Beigene, BMS, Connect, Eli Lilly, Galderma, Global Blood, GT, Immunitybio, Incyte, Laurent, Merck, Ocuphire, Portage, Secura.
LONDON – The largest study to date, involving 236,379 confirmed cases, shows that 1 in 3 survivors of COVID-19 was diagnosed with a neurological or psychiatric condition within six months of contracting the infection. For 13% of those patients, it was their first such diagnosis.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Agios Therapeutics Inc.’s encouraging phase III data from a pair of trials with allosteric activator mitapivat in pyruvate kinase deficiency brought more attention to the space, where Rocket Pharmaceuticals Inc. – at a much earlier stage – is trying a gene therapy called RP-L301.
Fibrogen Inc. said senior management’s prep for an upcoming FDA advisory committee meeting included a surprise. The internal review unearthed a primary cardiovascular safety analysis of roxadustat for treating anemia of chronic kidney disease (CKD) that included post-hoc changes to the phase III study’s stratification factors.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Aim, AVM, Bridge, Chinook, Daiichi Sankyo, Horizon, Recognify.
LONDON – The largest study to date, involving 236,379 confirmed cases, shows that 1 in 3 survivors of COVID-19 was diagnosed with a neurological or psychiatric condition within six months of contracting the infection. For 13% of those patients, it was their first such diagnosis.
If these top-line phase III results were a grade card for 12- to 15-year-olds, they would be on the honor roll: The Pfizer Inc.-Biontech SE COVID-19 vaccine is 100% effective for the age group and produced robust antibody responses. The new results play out against a backdrop of increased production and big revenue estimates.
Full rights to TAK-169, a CD38-targeted engineered toxin body that Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. and Molecular Templates Inc. have been developing, are going to Molecular Templates as is the therapy’s clinical development. Making way for the new candidate, Molecular is discontinuing development of MT-3724, which is in a phase II study for treating diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma but was placed on a partial clinical hold by the FDA after a treatment-related fatality in one of the subjects.