In its first worldwide licensing deal in the cardiovascular space, Ji Xing Pharmaceuticals Ltd. acquired rights to preclinical-stage PB-6440, in development for diseases including hypertension, from Phasebio Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Emerging biopharma company Mineralys Therapeutics Inc. priced a $192 million upsized IPO, the biggest so far this year, following positive top-line phase II trial results it announced for its lead hypertension candidate lorundrostat in November last year.
In its first worldwide licensing deal in the cardiovascular space, Ji Xing Pharmaceuticals Ltd. acquired rights to preclinical-stage PB-6440, in development for diseases including hypertension, from Phasebio Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Aktiia SA’s wrist-worn, continuous blood pressure monitor, which has been in use in the EU since 2021, could soon be coming to the U.S. The Aktiia bracelet uses photoplethysmography, the technology perhaps best known for providing blood oxygenation readings via pulse oximeters, and an algorithm based on thousands of readings to estimate blood pressure as wearers go about their daily activities.
Shares of Cincor Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:CINC) took a serious hit on top-line findings from the completed phase II Halo study with once-daily oral baxdrostat, but the clinical program with the aldosterone synthase inhibitor remains on track, and an NDA submission is targeted for 2025. The stock closed at $14.11, down $12.42, or 46.8% after Waltham, Mass.-based Cincor informed Wall Street that results from Halo, which enrolled patients taking as many as two blood pressure medications at the maximally tolerated doses without satisfactory results, missed statistical significance on its primary endpoint evaluating change from baseline in mean seated systolic blood pressure in the intent-to-treat population, which included 249 patients.
Cardiai Inc. has developed a small, portable monitor that continuously measures patients’ blood pressure (BP) at regular intervals for up to seven days, well beyond the single measurements historically done in a doctor’s office.
As they matured from prenatal to adult, heart cells reduced the number of nuclear pores by more than 60%. That decrease protected them from the consequences of stress, but also impaired their ability to regenerate. “These findings are an important advance in fundamental understanding of how the heart develops with age and how it has evolved to cope with stress,” senior author Bernhard Kühn, professor of pediatrics and director of the Pediatric Institute for Heart Regeneration and Therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said in a press release. Kühn and his colleagues published those findings in the Oct. 24, 2022, issue of Developmental Cell.
The 2022 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics annual meeting highlighted mostly positive outcomes from major trials conducted by nearly all the big players in the cardiac device market. Here’s our round-up of the meeting’s high points, with updates from Abbott Laboratories, Abiomed Inc., Boston Scientific Corp., Edwards Lifesciences Corp., Inari Medical Inc., Medtronic plc and Recor Medical Inc.
