Saying he was "extraordinarily disappointed" by the complete response letter (CRL) from the FDA regarding HTX-011, Heron Therapeutics Inc. CEO Barry Quart called it "very discouraging" that the agency's objections could have been raised earlier during talks but were not.

Vividion Therapeutics Inc. CEO Diego Miralles told BioWorld that $82 million in new series B money will propel research to "clinical proof of concept in at least one of the three lead programs, if not more" as the company – just over a year after sealing a pact worth $101 million up front that brought Celgene Corp. aboard as a collaborator – pulled off an oversubscribed round with its partner on board.

Satsuma Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO John Kollins told BioWorld Asia the migraine space may be in a stage of development similar to the depression therapeutic area before the advent of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and his firm's dry-powder inhaled STS-101 (dihydroergotamine [DHE]) could help turn the corner in acute treatment of headaches.

The disclosure in late March by Blueprint Medicines Corp. that, based on talks with regulators, the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm will expedite development of avapritinib, BLU-667 and BLU-782 served to whet investor appetite and fuel speculation about the competitive chances of one candidate in particular.

The start in early April by Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd. of the phase II/III trial with BHV-3500 in acute treatment of migraine brought renewed attention to the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist space, even as rumors swirled later in the month that the New Haven, Conn.-based firm was mulling a sale – if not of the company, then of its CGRP platform.

Satsuma Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO John Kollins told BioWorld the migraine space may be in a stage of development similar to the depression therapeutic area before the advent of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and his firm's dry-powder inhaled STS-101 (dihydroergotamine [DHE]) could help turn the corner in acute treatment of headaches.

Akari Therapeutics plc's interim CEO and chief operating officer, Clive Richardson, told BioWorld that the company plans to enroll more seriously afflicted bullous pemphigoid (BP) patients in the phase II trial that has yielded positive results in three subjects treated with the firm's once-daily subcutaneous therapy, nomacopan (previously known as coversin), based on a protein originally discovered in the saliva of the Ornithodoros moubata tick. "Hopefully on the back of that expanded trial we would go to the FDA early next year and agree with them [on] what would be the pathway to a pivotal study," he said.

A rivalry is shaping up between heavyweight Amgen Inc. and smaller contender Mirati Therapeutics Inc. in the targeting of KRAS G12C, a protein that researchers once believed altogether intractable because it is lacking in hydrophobic pockets and binding grooves.

Word hardly shook the world in early April when Cambridge, Mass.-based Acceleron Pharma Inc. dropped ACE-2494, a systemic muscle agent in phase I tests in healthy volunteers, because anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) developed. Although the compound had shown signs of early target engagement and ADAs had not been associated with any adverse event, Acceleron said the candidate wasn't worth going ahead with.