Privately held Recludix Pharma Inc. and Sanofi SA, through its Sanofi US unit, will collaborate on developing and commercializing treatments for immunological and inflammatory diseases. In the near term, Recludix will get $125 million, but long term it could add up to $1.2 billion in milestones. The two companies will be working with oral, small-molecule signal transducers and activators of transcription 6 inhibitors. Sanofi will get the global rights to the inhibitors, while Recludix does preclinical R&D until the start of phase II studies. After that, Sanofi takes over global clinical development and commercialization duties.

Vir stock walloped on negative phase II data with MAb to prevent flu

Shares of Vir Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ:VIR) took a hit on the failure of its phase II trial called Peninsula testing VIR-2482 for the prevention of influenza A. VIR-2482, a monoclonal antibody, missed its primary and secondary endpoints, sending Vir’s stock down 44%, or $10.21, to trade midday at $12.84. The firm noted that those who received the highest dose of 1,200 mg showed a drop of about 57% in symptomatic flu A, defined according to U.S. CDC criteria: one of two secondary goals in the study. VIR-2482 was generally well-tolerated, with no safety signals identified.

Stroke of luck for Idorsia and failing GPCR drug Pivlaz as Sosei Heptares offers $463M

Sosei Heptares is fulfilling its ambition for growth in the Asia-Pacific region by buying the Japanese and South Korea businesses of Swiss biotech Idorsia Ltd. for ¥65 billion (US$463 million), potentially freeing Idorsia from its struggle to prove its stroke drug, Pivlaz (clazosentan), is effective enough to warrant approval in key Western markets. Shares in Idorsia fell by about 14% in February after Pivlaz failed to prevent patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhages from deteriorating in the phase III REACT trial, leaving its future in the U.S. and Europe uncertain.

US HELP Committee looks to bipartisanship to increase preparedness

A day after a U.S. House committee, on a party-line vote, advanced two bills to reauthorize emergency preparedness programs, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is marking up a bipartisan reauthorization of the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA). In opening the markup today, HELP Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) invoked the COVID-19 pandemic as he stressed the need for a bipartisan bill that can get through the divided Congress and be signed into law before the current version of PAHPA expires Sept. 30. “It would be an understatement to say we were tragically unprepared for that crisis,” Sanders said of the recent pandemic, reminding his colleagues that another pandemic as bad, or worse than, COVID-19 is expected in the near future.

Insilico progresses AI-discovered drug to phase II trials in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery specialist Insilico Medicine Inc. is progressing INS018-055, its lead compound to phase II trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic lung disease that results in progressive and irreversible decline in lung function. The drug is a potentially first-in-class small-molecule inhibitor with a novel target discovered by Insilico’s target identification engine, Pandaomics, and a novel molecular structure designed by its generative chemistry engine, Chemistry42. Using interconnected deep learning models and other advanced AI approaches, Insilico was able to link biology and chemistry to discover the target and generate a small molecule for IPF.

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