Teijin Pharma Ltd. has entered into an exclusive global licensing agreement with Bioprojet under which Teijin Pharma grants Bioprojet Pharma SAS exclusive worldwide rights to research, develop, manufacture and commercialize an investigational candidate for narcolepsy.
Building D&D Pharmatech Inc. has been a rollercoaster ride, according to CEO Seulki Lee. The U.S. and Korea-based biotech is on another ascent, having scored U.S. FDA fast track designation for its metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) drug, ahead of its third attempt at a public listing.
Benevolentai Cambridge Ltd. has synthesized retinoid acid receptor α (RARα) and β (RARβ) agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
With high hopes for its LPA1R antagonist program, Contineum Therapeutics Inc. has priced an IPO of 6.9 million shares of its class A common stock at $16 per share as it seeks to generate $110 million in gross proceeds. The San Diego-based company began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker CTNM on April 5, with shares ending the day at $15.40, down 3.8%. There have been nine other biopharma IPOs so far in 2024.
After decades of trying and dozens of failed trials, amyloid targeting has paid off with the first disease-modifying agents reaching the market. But success does not mean slam dunk. Aduhelm (aducanumab, Biogen Inc.) was dogged by controversy throughout its brief tenure, and Biogen pulled the plug on it in early 2024. Leqembi (lecanemab, Biogen Inc.) has received full approval. In this second installment of a three-part series on Alzheimer’s, BioWorld looks at the nuanced view of amyloid’s role in the disease.
Mina Therapeutics Ltd. has announced a research collaboration and licensing agreement option with Nippon Shinyaku Co. Ltd. for the discovery and potential development and commercialization of small activating RNA (RNAa) therapeutic candidates targeting rare neurodegenerative diseases for which there are currently no treatment options.
Nanjing Zhongrui Medicine Co. Ltd. has described protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) activators reported to be useful for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Inmed Pharmaceuticals Inc. has reported new preclinical data demonstrating INM-901’s pharmacological effects for the potential treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Several preclinical studies were conducted in well-characterized Alzheimer’s disease models.
At a recent meeting on “Research priorities for preventing and treating Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias” (ADRD), convened by the National Academies, one consensus priority on ADRD research was that there needs to be more of it at every stage. Several speakers presented stark numbers on the relative volume of research in cancer and neurodegeneration. Research output, measured in peer-reviewed papers, for dementia is estimated to be around 10,000 papers annually, compared to 150,000 for cancer, while AD clinical trials are also few and far between compared to cancer trials. This final installment of BioWorld’s series on Alzheimer’s explores some of the reasons for this discrepancy along with the latest advances and ongoing efforts to accelerate research and drug development in the field.
Less than a month after disclosing that its confirmatory phase III trial of Relyvrio (sodium phenylbutyrate plus taurursodiol) fell short of its endpoint, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. is withdrawing the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) drug from the market.
RSS
