Roivant Sciences Ltd. CEO Matt Cline said the firm’s unit Immunovant Inc. with FcRn blocker batoclimab has established “frankly a new bar” in myasthenia gravis (MG) as the New York-based firm reported top-line results from its phase III study and first data from period 1 of the phase IIb study with the same drug in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. The data look promising, and Immunovant intends to use the findings to help advance second-generation FcRn prospect IMVT-1402 in both indications. Potentially registrational trials are planned. The U.S. FDA has granted IND clearance.
Wall Street was weighing the gravity of the death from acute liver failure of a patient who was treated for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) with Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s gene therapy, Elevidys (delandistrogene moxeparvovec). Liver injury is a known possible side effect of the product, first approved by the U.S. FDA in June 2023 for DMD, as well as other AAV-mediated gene therapies, and the potential problem is highlighted in Elevidys’ prescribing information.
Investors wanted more from Incyte Corp.’s top-line results in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) from its pivotal phase III Stop-HS trial program with oral small-molecule JAK1 inhibitor povorcitinib in adults with moderate to severe disease. Shares of the Wilmington, Del.-based firm (NASDAQ:INCY) closed March 17 at $62.01, down $5.85, after the company made public that Stop-HS1 and Stop-HS2 met the primary endpoint at both tested doses (45 mg and 75 mg)
U.S. President Donald Trump touched off a not-uncommon flurry of puzzlement and outrage when, during his speech to Congress on March 4, he referred to an example of government waste as spending $8 million on “making mice transgender. This is real.” Skeptical media outlets jumped on the case right away.
The pairing of Mallinckrodt plc and Endo Inc. is expected to create a pharma heavyweight that will generate $3.6 billion in 2025 revenue after the duo combines their generic pharmaceuticals businesses and Endo’s sterile injectables setup. Terms call for Dublin-based Endo shareholders to collect $80 million in cash and own 49.9% of the combined firm. Owners of stock in Mallinckrodt will hold the rest of the new entity in the arrangement, which bears an enterprise value of $6.7 billion and is expected to close in the second half of this year.
Vivace Therapeutics Inc. closed a $35 million series D round led by RA Capital Management, an existing investor, and including other backers already on board: Canaan Partners and Cenova Capital. Proceeds will support the continued development of what the company describes as its first-in-class and best-in-class transcriptional enhanced associate domain autopalmitoylation (TEAD) inhibitor, VT-3989, with an initial focus on mesothelioma.
Yesterday’s first part of this two-part series surveyed bispecific antibodies for immunological and inflammatory (I&I) disease. Apart from bispecifics, Leerink analyst Thomas Smith lately has proven interested in I&I overall, unveiling his “five for 2025” in a January report that listed five indications with “potential for disruption” in the year ahead.
Mixed clinical results led shares of Arvinas Inc. (NASDAQ:ARVN) to close March 11 at $8.30, down $9.26, or 52%, after the company and Pfizer Inc. disclosed results from the phase III Veritac-2 study testing vepdegestrant monotherapy vs. fulvestrant in adults with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Enrolled were subjects whose disease progressed after treatment with CDK4/6 inhibitors and endocrine therapy.
The recent series A financing by Bambusa Therapeutics Inc. to fund bispecific antibodies for immunological and inflammatory disorders proved investor faith in the new approach with a proven mechanism.
The disclosure of a new candidate by Dewpoint Therapeutics Inc. was the latest in the percolating beta-catenin/Wnt space, where a handful of firms have been making progress.
