Flare Therapeutics Inc. will receive $70 million in cash up front from Roche Holding AG, and the deal could ultimately bring the company about $1.8 billion plus royalties. Flare will search for small molecules that can be used to treat undruggable transcription factors to treat cancer. Also, Novartis AG will pay computational-chemistry expert Schrödinger Inc. $150 million up front and as much as $2.3 billion in milestones to develop several candidates along with up to $892 million in R&D and milestone payments.
Radiopharmaceutical biotech and contract development and organization firm Duchembio Co. Ltd. filed a securities report to South Korea’s Financial Services Commission Nov. 11, kickstarting the IPO process to list on the Korea Exchange.
Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd.’s colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor inhibitor, pimicotinib, met both primary and secondary endpoints in the phase III Maneuver global study evaluating pimicotinib for treatment of tenosynovial giant cell tumor.
Rapt Therapeutics Inc. has decided to shut down its zelnecirnon (RPT-193) program in asthma and atopic dermatitis, causing the company’s stock (NASDAQ:RAPT) to sharply decline Nov. 11.
Abbvie Inc.’s much-hyped emraclidine, the centerpiece of its $8.7 billion buyout of Cerevel Therapeutics Inc., failed to hit its endpoints in two phase II trials in schizophrenia, sending company shares (NYSE:ABBV) down more than 12.6%, to close at 174.43, catching industry watchers by surprise and removing a potentially near-term competitor for Bristol Myers Squibb Co.’s recently approved antipsychotic, Cobenfy (xanomeline-trospium).
Radiopharmaceutical biotech and contract development and organization firm Duchembio Co. Ltd. filed a securities report to South Korea’s Financial Services Commission Nov. 11, kickstarting the IPO process to list on the Korea Exchange.
As an array of developers push their Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) drugs along, PTC Therapeutics Inc.’s recent update on its program piqued thirst for the 15-lipoxygenase inhibitor vatiquinone. Warren, N.J.-based PTC said the prespecified endpoint for two different FA long-term extension studies was met, with highly statistically significant evidence of durable treatment benefit on disease progression.
In a pipeline shakeup, Tango Therapeutics Inc. has halted enrollment in a phase I/II study in order to push two other brain cancer drugs into development. TNG-908 had success in treating non-CNS solid tumors such as non-small-cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer but missed the minimum pharmacokinetic exposure in clinical efficacy for treating glioblastoma.
Phase III Scorpio-PEP study results showed Shionogi & Co. Ltd.’s oral antiviral ensitrelvir fumaric acid (Xocova) reduced risk of symptomatic COVID-19 infection in subjects who were exposed to the virus by infected household members.
Atossa Therapeutics Inc. moved a step closer in its efforts to develop a preventative approach to breast cancer, with top-line data from a phase II study showing (Z)-endoxifen significantly reduced mammographic breast density, while demonstrating a good tolerability profile.