The gene for Huntington’s disease “was cloned in 1993, and everyone thought there was going to be a treatment right around the corner,” Sarah Tabrizi told the audience at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Then, “it took 25 years for the first trial targeting the Huntington gene.”
The U.S. FDA granted Roche Holding AG breakthrough device designation for its Elecsys Neurofilament Light Chain test for multiple sclerosis. The Elecsys NfL test can aid in the detection of disease activity in adults, 18-55 years old, with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis or secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. It also provides critical information for managing the disease.
Korean bioventure GI Innovation Inc. inched closer to achieving its goal of “five tech transfer deals in five years” with another licensing deal for its allergy drug, GI-301, with Japan-based Maruho Co. Ltd. for ₩298 billion (US$220.7 million), although share prices still dropped on the news.
Korean bioventure GI Innovation Inc. inched closer to achieving its goal of “five tech transfer deals in five years” with another licensing deal for its allergy drug, GI-301, with Japan-based Maruho Co. Ltd. for ₩298 billion (US$220.7 million), although share prices still dropped on the news.
Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc. has cut a deal with Roche Holding AG that brings the molecular glue degrader-based medicines developer an up-front $50 million and the possibility of more than $2 billion in milestone payments. The Boston-based company coupled the deal by releasing positive interim data from the phase I dose-escalation portion of its phase I/II open-label, multisite study of MRT-2359 in Myc-driven solid tumors.
Roche Holding AG’s Genentech subsidiary has broken new ground with a victory in phase III testing of the oral, anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor Alecensa (alectinib) in early stage, ALK-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The drug, well known to doctors in the advanced setting, was compared with platinum-based chemotherapy and met its primary endpoint of disease-free survival at a prespecified interim analysis.
The narrative of TIGIT-targeting immunotherapy development, beset by negative news in recent months, has found a positive plotline again, thanks to what Roche Holding AG referred to as “an inadvertent disclosure” of a second interim analysis from the phase III Skyscraper-01 study testing anti-TIGIT candidate tiragolumab with anti-PD-L1 antibody Tecentriq (atezolizumab) in non-small-cell lung cancer.
Alnylam Pharmaceutical Inc. hopes to tap into Roche Holding AG’s global footprint with its early-stage hypertension RNAi therapeutic, zilebesiran, selling development and commercialization rights to the pharma giant for up to $2.8 billion with a view to extending the drug’s future reach beyond the U.S market.
From Roche Holding AG to Novartis AG, bad news abounds for anti-TIGIT immunotherapies. In an SEC filing on July 11, Chinese oncology R&D firm Beigene Ltd. and Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis announced an end to their $1 billion deal to develop the former’s TIGIT immunotherapy ociperlimab, with the checkpoint inhibitor going back to Beigene.
Although shares of TG Therapeutics Inc. took a hit on word of positive phase III data in multiple sclerosis (MS) from competitor Genentech, a unit of Roche Holding AG, the results may not end up affecting much the market showdown between the CD20 players.
