The May 2014 approval of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s Entyvio (vedolizumab) brought welcome news in the form of an important mechanism of action for patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, but also means a burdensome course of administration – 30 minutes’ worth of infusion every six weeks, a drawback that other developers are trying to remedy. Standouts among the up-and-comers are Morphic Holding Inc., with an oral candidate that works through the same mechanism of action as Entyvio, and Protagonist Therapeutics Inc.
As therapeutics development in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is broadening its search for therapeutic targets, one of the alternatives to amyloid-β, or at least to its direct targeting by monoclonal antibodies, that is coming into focus is triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2). From a drug development standpoint, amyloid-β remains a mystery. Scientific evidence clearly suggests that amyloid misprocessing is an underlying factor in the development of AD, and it is certainly a reasonable hypothesis that reducing amyloid plaque should fight the disease.
Novartis AG rolled out positive phase III data Sept. 13 with Cosentyx (secukinumab), its interleukin-17A (IL-17A) inhibitor for hidradenitis suppurativa, offering more evidence for the approach taken up by a handful of biopharma firms.
The bad news in March 2022 from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. regarding Natpara, its recombinant human parathyroid hormone for hypoparathyroidism (HPT), served to generate more interest in the already bubbling space, where a handful of players large and small own prospects at various clinical stages.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) dodged a black-box warning on the label of just-approved Sotyktu (deucravacitinib), but hurdles lie ahead for the first-in-class, oral, allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitor. Designed to treat adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy, Sotyktu is priced as $75,000 per year, and will become available during September, BMS said.
The bad news in March 2022 from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. regarding Natpara, its recombinant human parathyroid hormone for hypoparathyroidism (HPT), served to generate more interest in the already bubbling space, where a handful of players large and small own prospects at various clinical stages.
The U.S. FDA’s approval of Revance Therapeutics Inc.’s Daxxify (daxibotulinumtoxinA-lanm) for the temporary improvement of moderate to severe glabellar lines, or frown lines, in adults, positioned the drug to compete with Abbvie Inc.’s blockbuster, Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA), which tallied $678 million in global net revenues for the second quarter of 2022.
Wall Street trimmed shares of Veru Inc. (NASDAQ:VERU) by upwards of 20% in the wake of an editorial published Aug. 23 in The New England Journal of Medicine publication NEJM Evidence. The opinion piece, by two critical-care pulmonologists, added verve to the debate about the efficacy of drugs for people hospitalized with COVID-19.
Questioners probed the fine points during Iveric Bio Inc.’s conference call, but news proved unmistakably good with Zimura (avacincaptad pegol) in geographic atrophy (GA), and shares of the firm (NASDAQ:ISEE) closed Sept. 6 at $15.70, up $6.26, or 66%, on positive top-line data from Gather 2, the firm’s second phase III study.
A recent paper in the Journal of Neuroscience detailing preclinical research from the University of Texas shone new light on triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (Trem2), an increasingly popular target in drug discovery that a handful of companies are pursuing.
