In May 2024, BioWorld covered 298 updates across phase I-III clinical trials, surpassing March (261), February (236) and January (252), though falling short of April’s high of 323. Additionally, at the end of May BioWorld revised its reporting criteria for clinical trial updates, focusing mainly on data readouts and excluding trial initiations, enrollment changes and initial patient dosing, thereby impacting the update count relative to prior months.

In May, the U.S. FDA approved 11 new drugs, a significant drop from the 26 approvals in April, which was the sixth-highest monthly total since 2016. This also falls short of March’s record-setting 30 approvals, the highest number recorded by BioWorld.

The BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index (BBI) saw an 8.15% increase at the close of May, outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which rose by 2.64%, and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, which was up by 0.7%. The BBI previously showed a strong performance in Q1, followed by a dip for all three indices in April, before all rebounded in May.

Alzheon Inc. has raised $100 million in a series E financing round to push its oral drug candidate for early Alzheimer’s disease (AD), ALZ-801 (valiltramiprosate), through a late-stage, Apolloe4 study.

The annual Companies to Watch report, which was just released, looks closely at seven companies flying under the radar that are developing antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for treating cancer. Companies examined in the new report are Adcendo ApS, Araris Biotech AG, Go Therapeutics Inc., Heidelberg Pharma AG, Pheon Therapeutics Ltd., Tallac Therapeutics Inc. and Tubulis GmbH.