Hookipa Pharma Inc.’s nearly $1 billion collaboration with Roche Holding AG dissolved along with 30% of the company’s staff. The New York-based company said Roche ended the October 2022 deal involving the HB-700 program in treating KRAS mutated cancers but did not say why the agreement fell apart. Leerink Partners analyst Andrew Berens wrote Jan. 29 that the firm spoke to management, which indicated the program was progressing according to plan and that Roche's decision was based more on its own internal pipeline strategy, lessening its focus on oncology after high profile failures vs. the program having issues in development.
What had been viewed as a major catalyst for Gilead Sciences Inc. going into 2024 turned into a disappointment on the stock market, as antibody-drug conjugate Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan) failed to meet the overall survival primary endpoint in the phase III Evoke-01 study in previously treated metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
California’s First District Court of Appeal opened an avenue, in that state at least, for lawsuits against drug and device companies based on their pipeline development priorities.
Gilead Sciences Inc. has signed an agreement with Compugen Ltd. to exclusively license Compugen’s preclinical antibody program against IL-18 binding protein, including the COM-503 drug candidate. COM-503 is a high affinity antibody which blocks the interaction between IL-18 binding protein and IL-18, thereby inhibiting cancer growth.
Compugen Ltd. has entered another collaboration, this time exclusively licensing a preclinical antibody program against an IL-18 binding protein with Gilead Sciences Inc. Compugen will handle ongoing preclinical development and a phase I study of COM-503 to treat tumors, then Gilead receives to sole right to further continue developing the asset. Compugen is getting an up-front $60 million and is eligible for a $30 million milestone payment should the IND clear in 2024. Compugen also is eligible for $758 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestones, putting the deal value at $848 million.
Gilead Sciences Inc. has synthesized indoline compounds acting as viral replication inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of herpes simplex virus infection and herpes simplex virus encephalitis.
Hookipa Pharma Inc. has received clearance from the FDA for its IND application for HB-500, a novel arenaviral therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of HIV.
If there had been any lingering market concerns following the temporary partial clinical hold earlier this year for Arcellx Inc.’s multiple myeloma CAR T-cell therapy, CART-ddBCMA, they were likely put to rest as partner Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Kite unit expanded the scope of the firms’ late 2022 collaboration to include lymphomas. At the same time, Kite exercised an option to negotiate a license for Arcellx’s ARC-Sparx program, ACLX-001, in multiple myeloma.