Although SVB Leerink analyst Andrew Berens said in a report that “some investors may be disappointed” at the lower-than-premium price tag on Cambridge, Mass.-based Epizyme Inc.’s Tazverik (tazemetostat), Wall Street was generally pleased about the on-time accelerated approval of the oral, first-in-class EZH2 inhibitor for patients age 16 and older with metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma (ES) not eligible for curative surgery. Epizyme set a wholesale acquisition cost of  $15,500 per month which equates to $186,000 annually. In December, members of the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted unanimously to recommend approval of the compound in ES, an aggressive soft-tissue cancer with a bleak prognosis that strikes about 120 patients in the U.S. per year. Shares (NASDAQ:EPZM) were trading midday at $23.34, down $3.38, or 12%.

Ipsen puts bone disorder drug dosing on ice after futility analysis

Expectations that a phase III trial of Ipsen SA's palovarotene will miss its primary endpoint of reducing abnormal bone growth among people with a rare bone disorder led the company to pause dosing in that study and another as it evaluates next steps. The candidate, a small-molecule retinoic acid receptor gamma agonist, was the core driver of Ipsen's $1.04 billion buy of Clementia Pharmaceuticals Inc. Already subject to a partial FDA clinical hold over adverse events among kids, the latest development cast further doubt on the candidate's future, Jefferies analyst Peter Welford said, noting a "further blow to sentiment." Ipsen's shares (Paris:IPN), down 18.9% year to date, fell 23.4% to €64.05 (US$71.04) Friday.

Standardized delivery of unique neoantigens improves T-cell vaccines

When they work, T cells work great. And the folks at Avidea Technologies Inc. want to make them work more often. Combining expertise in immunology, the Baltimore-based startup is developing antigen delivery technology to improve T-cell-targeted vaccines. The company is primarily focused on autologous cancer vaccines. But the underlying technology could be useful for allogeneic cancer vaccines and antiviral vaccines.

Shortage of MMR vaccine in Mexico deepens on quality issues

BOGOTA, Colombia – A two-year-old shortage of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in Mexico has become more serious, with 2020 starting out with renewed complaints of even lower availability of the vaccine all over the country.

Also in the news

Accel-Rx, Adaptive, Admare Bioinnovations, Alpine Immune, Applied Therapeutics, ATAI Life Sciences, Bellicum, Clene Nanomedicine, Cstone, Demerx, Eisai, Epizyme, Erytech, Exelixis, Ipsen, Isofol, Krystal Biotech, Lipidor, Protokinetix, Roche, Sonoma, Tonix