Shares of Palatin Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PTN) tumbled $1.40, or 35%, to trade midday at $2.57 after the company reported results for the pivotal phase III Melody-1 trial with PL-9643 vs. vehicle in dry eye disease. On an intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis, the co-primary symptom endpoint was met with statistical significance. Multiple secondary symptom endpoints were met with statistical significance, too. On an ITT basis, though, the study missed co-primary and secondary sign endpoints. The Cranbury, N.J.-based company expects to start another phase III later this year with the melanocortin pan-agonist after talks with the U.S. FDA.

Deal activity continues as OSE, Abbvie ink $713M partnership

As dealmaking continues strong in 2024, OSE Immunotherapeutics SA disclosed a potential $713 million deal with Abbvie Inc. for preclinical-stage monoclonal antibody OSE-230, a potentially first-in-class therapy targeting ChemR23 for treating a range of inflammatory diseases. For OSE, which gets an up-front payment of $48 million, the deal puts the drug in the hands of a “top player in immunology,” said CEO Nicolas Poirier. Shares of the Nantes, France-based company (PARIS:OSE) jumped 51% Feb. 28. Also announcing a deal Feb. 28 was Idorsia Ltd., which licensed two phase III-stage assets to Viatris Inc. in exchange for $350 million up front, plus milestones and tiered royalties from the mid-single to low double-digit percent range.

Pulsesight advancing eye therapies delivered via electroporation

Ocular gene therapy specialist Pulsesight Therapeutics SAS has launched with seed funding and is raising a series A to take forward two programs using electroporation to deliver plasmid DNA in the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration and geographic atrophy. The company has a proprietary electro-transfection device for delivering plasmids into the ciliary muscle of the lens, from where it says expressed therapeutic proteins can easily reach all parts of the eye. Animal studies and a few patient case histories indicate gene expression is sustained for six months or more.

Small gains, but gloomy US IPO market prevails

“The market stinks,” Brian Johnson, a partner and vice chair of Wilmerhale’s corporate practice group, told a U.S. SEC advisory committee yesterday, as he painted a gloomy picture of last year’s IPO landscape. While the scene was a little brighter than in 2022, a few key indicators could be worrisome, especially the median offering size, which is predictive of whether the IPO market is strong, Johnson said. Although the number of IPOs from all sectors, along with the total proceeds, was up in 2023 from the previous year, the median offering size was $10 million – down 43% from the $17.6 million median in 2022. Putting it in a larger context, that’s just 7% of the $144.2 million median that prevailed from 2017 through 2021. Nothing in the market explains the downsizing of the offerings, Johnson said.

Biocom 2024: Developing new AI capabilities

Biocom California’s Global Life Science Partnering & Investor Conference kicked off with a panel discussion focused on artificial intelligence (AI) in drug discovery, including how the companies are currently being valued more by the molecules their technology can produce than on their underlying AI platforms. Panelists also discussed how the largest opportunities in AI and machine learning were more about developing new capabilities, rather than speeding up the drug discovery process.

Takeda, Biological E. partner to widen global access to Qdenga

In a move to widen global access to its Qdenga dengue vaccine, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is partnering with India’s Biological E. Ltd. to manufacture Qdenga (TAK-003). Takeda voluntarily withdrew its U.S. BLA for Qdenga in July 2023 following discussions with the FDA centered on aspects of data collection that couldn’t be addressed within the BLA review cycle. The World Health Organization has set the target to achieve a zero case fatality rate due to dengue by 2030, and the Biological E partnership will enhance manufacturing capabilities to ensure a sustainable global supply of the vaccine.

New US PTO guide may spur more patent rejections for obviousness

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has released a guidance to aid patent examiners in dealing with questions of obviousness in patent applications, but patent attorney Michael Borella told BioWorld that this new guidance could invoke the law of unintended consequences. Borella said the guidance might lead to more inappropriate rejections of patent claims for obviousness, and thus make the process of obtaining a clean patent more difficult, not less.

Studies bring insights into brain’s self-cleaning mechanisms

Separate teams of investigators have reported new insights into how the brain disposes of metabolic waste via the glia-based lymphatic system, or glymph system. In two papers published in Nature on Feb. 28, 2024, scientists from Washington University in St. Louis described how in sleeping animals, the synchronized activity of neurons drove ionic gradients that facilitated the movement of fluid through brain tissue, leading to the interchange of metabolic waste between the interstitial fluid that is in brain tissue and the cerebrospinal fluid that flows through the glymph system. And researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed that, in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, the glymphatic system mediated clearance of amyloid-β after sensory stimulation at a 40-Hertz rhythm.

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Abbvie, AB Science, Acurx, Akili, Akston, Alexion, Allecra, Applied, Arch, Beigene, Bexion, Biological E., Boostimmune, Cassava, CG Oncology, Crinetics, Curadev, Everest Medicines, Genmab, Gilead, Greenwich, Healis, Imunon, Isotherapeutics, Janux, Kadimastem, Kezar, Kiniksa, Mabwell, Madrigal, Maia, Minerva, Monopar, Nicox, Nona, Nrx, Nuvalent, Obseva, Oculis, Oragenics, Pulsesight, Puretech, Rapport, Recce, Relief, Scilex, Sorrento, Takeda, Telix, Theratechnologies, Tonix, Umoja, Viking, Virpax, Vtv