Bluebird Bio Inc.’s elivaldogene autotemcel (eli-cel) gained U.S. approval late Sept. 16 for use in early active cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CALD), making it the firm’s second gene therapy to clear the FDA in as many months. Branded Skysona, eli-cel is expected to be available commercially by the end of 2022 and its launch will require only “incremental” company resources on top of those required for the ongoing launch of beta-thalassemia gene therapy Zynteglo (betibeglogene autotemcel), Bluebird said.
Bearish investors dwelling on a single grade 4 liver enzyme elevation seemed to be the cause for Intellia Therapeutics Inc.’s sinking stock Sept. 16, despite the company reporting impressive, though early stage, data for its leading systemically administered CRISPR candidates targeting hereditary angioedema (HAE) and amyloid transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis.
Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. celebrated a long-awaited win with the U.S. FDA’s approval late Sept. 9 of novel G-CSF drug eflapegrastim, cleared for use in chemotherapy-induced neutropenia nearly four years after the company first filed for regulatory approval. Despite moves this year to reduce its cash burn, Spectrum has ready to go a commercial team expected to sell eflapegrastim as well as cancer drug poziotinib, which is under FDA review with a PDUFA date of Nov. 24, 2022.
For privately held Good Therapeutics Inc., founded in 2016 with a platform technology for developing context-dependent therapeutics, the plan had always been to seek a buyer for the first asset to emerge. One came along a little earlier than expected, as Roche Holding AG entered a merger agreement for Good, picking up preclinical-stage PD-1-regulated IL-2 program, in exchange for an up-front cash payment of $250 million.
The U.S. FDA has become the first global regulator to approve Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH’s spesolimab, the first treatment specifically approved for generalized pustular psoriasis flares in adults, a rare and potentially fatal disease. Branded as Spevigo, it works by inhibiting interleukin-36 and is delivered via intravenous injection. Ingelheim, Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim is not giving away details about pricing but Carinne Brouillon, a member of the company’s board responsible for human pharma, said Spevigo is “priced similarly to the other biologic therapies used to treat rare dermatologic diseases.”
Five months after winning its first approval in Japan, Sanofi SA’s enzyme replacement therapy, Xenpozyme (olipudase alfa), earned a U.S. FDA nod for use in pediatric and adult patients with acid sphingomyelinase deficiency (ASMD), becoming the first medication designed to treat symptoms not related to the central nervous system.
Factor XIa inhibitors milvexian and asundexian, hailed as the next-generation class of anticoagulants, earned mixed reviews on phase II data presented during the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2022. However, developers Bristol Myers Squibb Co./Janssen Pharmaceutical Co. and Bayer AG, respectively, are moving into late-stage testing, citing clear mechanisms of action that put the FXIa drugs at least on par with approved factor Xa drugs in terms of efficacy while offering potentially better safety profiles that could give physicians an option for patients with stroke or atrial fibrillation who are currently undertreated with anticoagulants due to bleeding risks.
Shares of Pharvaris NV (NASDAQ:PHVS) fell 34% Aug. 22 to close at $12.15 after the company reported the U.S. FDA placed a clinical hold on PHA-121, its oral bradykinin B2-receptor antagonist for hereditary angioedema (HAE), citing a review of nonclinical data. PHA-121, which goes after the same target as well-established injectable HAE drug Firazyr (icatibant, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.), is the active ingredient in Pharvaris’ two lead programs: PHVS-416, a softgel capsule formulation, and PHVS-719, an extended-release tablet formulation.
“No good data goes unpunished in this market,” H.C. Wainwright analyst Andrew Fein wryly noted in an Aug. 17 research report highlighting Wall Street’s dismal response to Blueprint Medicines Corp.’s positive top-line readout of the registrational Pioneer study, in which KIT inhibitor Ayvakit (avapritinib) met the primary and all key secondary endpoints in patients with non-advanced systemic mastocytosis.
News of GSK plc’s decision to decline its option for MAT2A inhibitor IDE-397, the lead compound from a 2020 collaboration with Ideaya Biosciences Inc. sent the latter’s shares (NASDAQ:IDYA) slipping 35% to close Aug. 15 at $10.20. For Ideaya, however, which maintained that it has sufficient capital to see the program through phase II on its own, the move works out just fine.
