More than a decade after first approving Actemra (tocilizumab) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, the FDA has added a sixth use to its label: slowing the rate of decline in pulmonary function in adult patients with systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease.
Results from the first trial testing the oral autotaxin inhibitor ziritaxestat in adults with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis have encouraged its originator, Galapagos NV, to explore next steps for the program, it said on Sept. 11.
Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc.’s lenabasum having failed its phase III test in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (SSc), attention turned to prospects with the cannabinoid receptor type 2 agonist for other indications.
DUBLIN – Gesynta Pharma AB raised SEK190 million (US$20.6 million) in new funding to move GS-248, a selective inhibitor of microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1), into a phase IIa trial in systemic sclerosis. The study is due to get underway toward the year end. “It’s going to be in the second half of the fourth quarter,” said Patric Stenberg, CEO of Lund, Sweden-based Gesynta.
