In one of the first large preclinical deals of 2023, Evoq Therapeutics Inc. is licensing for up to $685.5 million its Nanodisc technology to Gilead Sciences Inc. to develop new rheumatoid arthritis and lupus treatments. The potential payout includes up-front fees, an option exercise and milestone payments across all programs. Evoq also could receive tiered royalties on any sales that result. A similar pact was signed in January 2021 when Evoq granted exclusive rights to Amgen Inc. to select undisclosed programs in a deal worth $240 million.

Jasper skyrockets on phase I/II findings with SCD conditioning agent briquilimab

Shares of Jasper Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: JSPR) were trading midday at $1.80, up $1.32, or 278%, on data from an investigator-initiated phase I/II trial testing the addition of the firm’s briquilimab (formerly known as JSP-191), Jasper’s anti-c-KIT monoclonal antibody, to an existing bone marrow transplant regimen in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) and beta-thalassemia. Specifically, the study enrolled those considered at high risk for complications from or ineligible for standard myeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplant. All three SCD participants treated with the drug showed neutrophil engraftment within 12-16 days.

New research claims cardiac death inconsistencies in Amgen’s phase III Repatha study

New research published in BMJ Open claims there are inconsistencies in Amgen Inc.’s phase III Fourier study data. Cardiac deaths were numerically higher in those taking the PCSK9 inhibitor Repatha (evolocumab) combined with a statin than those in the placebo group, the research claims. The researchers noted inconsistencies between information in the clinical study report and in the primary results published in 2017. The researchers said they found 11 more deaths from myocardial infarction in the evolocumab group and three fewer deaths in the placebo group. The study analyzed the risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, hospitalization for unstable angina or coronary revascularization in patients with cardiovascular disease. Researchers who wrote the journal article were from the Innovation and Organization Unit, Navarre Health Service, and the Navarre Institute for Health Research, both of Pamplona, Spain, and the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

‘Striking outcome’ as Newron reports 6-month data from schizophrenia trial

Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA has reported positive six-month data for its selective sodium channel blocker, evenamide, as an add-on therapy to antipsychotic drugs in chronic, treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Patients who had responded at the initial six-week evaluation showed continued improvements in symptoms of psychosis, while others who had not responded at six weeks did so by six months. At six weeks, 16.5% of patients demonstrated a clinically meaningful improvement, according to the schizophrenia Positive and Negative syndrome scale. By six months, more than 33% had responded.

Reindeer and horses and bears, oh my!

One of the snarkier ways to describe psychology – and unfortunately, not a completely incorrect one – is as the study of behavior in white rats and college sophomores. For a long time, biomedical research suffered a parallel problem: of white mice and white men. Things are slowly improving as far as diversity in clinical research is concerned, and there are a number of species other than mice that are widely used because they are well-suited to study certain processes.

Cartherics advances autologous CAR T toward human trials in CTCL

Immunotherapy company Cartherics Pty Ltd. is leading a consortium that received a AU$5.4 million (US$3.6 million) grant from the Medical Research Futures Fund to develop a new approach to enhance cancer therapy by engaging the patient’s own immune system to complement CAR cell therapy. The company is partnering with the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center (Peter Mac), the Central Adelaide Local Health Network and Cell Therapies Pty Ltd. to create off-the-shelf functionally enhanced natural killer cells to engage the patient’s own macrophages in their immune system for tumor destruction rather than tumor protection. The Peter Mac and Cartherics will co-develop Cartherics’ autologous CAR T-cell therapy (CTH-001) for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), which will provide a better understanding of “how our cells can switch macrophages from protecting tumors to attacking tumors,” Cartherics CEO Alan Trounson told BioWorld.

Holiday notice

BioWorld's offices were closed Monday, Jan. 2. No issue was published.

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