The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) is launching an investigation into the importation from China of certain thyroid hormone receptor-beta agonists, products containing them and the manufacturing processes being used.
Upholding a 2021 jury verdict against a hedge fund adviser accused of making fraudulent statements to drive down Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s stock price, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit shot down Gregory Lemelson’s arguments that his statements related to the company and its lead drug, Promacta (eltrombopag), were opinions protected by the First Amendment and that they were not material.
Missing the primary endpoint in a phase IIb study of aldafermin for treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has caused NGM Biopharmaceuticals Inc. to halt the program’s development while rattling the company’s share value. But the failure didn’t stop there as other NASH therapy developers felt the reverberations. South Francisco-based NGM’s stock (NASDAQ:NGM) took a battering May 24 as shares closed down 40.77% at $16.81 each. Others in the NASH space rocked by NGM’s negative data on the day included San Francisco-based 89bio Inc., which is prepping BIO89-100, a glycopegylated FGF21 analogue for a phase IIb NASH study. 89bio’s stock (NASDAQ:ETNB) plunged 14.24% to close at $19.40 per share.
Liver disease specialist Ascletis Pharma Inc. said its nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)-focused subsidiary, Gannex Pharma Co. Ltd., will start global development of its oral THR-β agonist, ASC-41, after it obtained an IND approval from the FDA based on positive phase I data generated in China.
Updated results from a phase II test of Viking Therapeutics Inc.'s VK-2809 in people with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and elevated LDL-cholesterol found it delivered durable reductions in liver fat even four weeks post-treatment.
