By acquiring privately held Cadent Therapeutics Inc., Novartis AG gains full rights to Cadent’s allosteric modulator program, part of which the two companies began collaborating on in 2015, and all the company’s outstanding stock. Cambridge, Mass.-based Cadent will receive as much as $770 million, $210 million of it up front, plus $560 million in milestones.
A top-line Alzheimer's trial readout, once expected to catalyze value for the Vtv Therapeutics Inc. candidate azeliragon this year, instead hurried a 22.6% decline in company shares (NASDAQ:VTVT) to $2.30 after the phase II study found the drug yet again failed to deliver a statistically significant difference in cognitive decline vs. a placebo in people with mild probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D).
DUBLIN – Could a tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved for treating canine cancer offer clinical benefits in Alzheimer’s disease? That’s the bold claim AB Science SA is making, after unveiling top-line data from a phase IIb/III trial in which it reported that a subgroup of patients on a twice daily 4.5-mg/kg dose of oral masitinib experienced “a significant treatment effect” as compared with placebo after 24 weeks.
Prevail Therapeutics Inc. won't be prevailing on its own. Eli Lilly and Co. is acquiring the gene therapy company for $880 million up front plus an earn-out of up to $160 million if Lilly can gain regulatory approval for at least one of Prevail's drugs.
Both phase III studies of ublituximab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody from TG Therapeutics Inc., of New York, met their primary endpoints of significantly reducing the annualized relapse rate in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Company stock (NASDAQ:TGTX) received a solid bump Dec. 10 as shares closed 40.85% higher at $41.72. T
Wall Street is liking the prospects of Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.’s NBI-827104, in the rare pediatric indication called epileptic encephalopathy with continuous spikes and waves during sleep. San Diego-based Neurocrine is moving the orally active, brain-penetrating T-type calcium channel blocker, licensed from Idorsia Ltd., of Allschwil, Switzerland, into phase II trials.
Israeli cell therapy specialist Neurogenesis Ltd., said new phase II data has shown that treatment with its autologous cell therapy candidate NG-01 in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients led to an 80% to 90% reduction in disease progression at 12 months compared to a pretreatment period and a 90% reduction in relapses compared to placebo-treated patients.
The independent data monitoring committee overseeing Cortexyme Inc.’s phase II/III trial of atuzaginstat (COR-388), a gingipain inhibitor for patients with Alzheimer’s disease, has recommended the study continue to its one-year endpoint.
Rare disease-focused Ovid Therapeutics Inc. has paused development of its investigational Angelman syndrome therapy, OV-101, after initial phase III results showed no difference between the drug and a placebo.
Investors in Minerva Neurosciences Inc. on Dec. 1 gave a chilly reception to reported FDA feedback on the company's experimental treatment for the negative symptoms in schizophrenia, roluperidone. Though the drug failed to deliver statistically significant differences vs. placebo in a phase III study this year, CEO Remy Luthringer outlined a potential path to NDA filing for the candidate using a modified intent-to-treat analysis of the trial and evidence from other ongoing evaluations.