The Oxford Vaccine Group has delivered on its promise, and after starting work in mid-May has completed preclinical testing and is ready to begin a phase I trial of a vaccine against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus that is causing the current serious disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Tuesday brought what was arguably the most anticipated presentation of the 2026 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference when Catherine Mummery, head of novel therapeutics at University College London’s Dementia Research Center, presented data from the phase II Celia trial of tau-lowering antisense oligonucleotide diranersen (BIIB-080, Biogen Inc.). Based on both clinical and biomarker data, “Celia establishes a proof of concept,” Mummery said, that reducing tau may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s anti-CD38 antibody mezagitamab (TAK-079) is showing benefits beyond platelet restoration, with new data suggesting the candidate may improve quality of life for patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and sustain those gains after treatment ends.
The U.K. is setting up a nationwide registry of people with dementia, who will be pre-screened and consented, to speed up recruitment to clinical trials and collect real-world evidence of effectiveness once therapies are approved.
The clinically proven promise of an alopecia drug, without the risks of black box-bearing JAK inhibitors yet with powerful efficacy, led shares of Q32 Bio Inc. (NASDAQ:QTTB) to close July 13 at $21.38, up $10.17, or 90.7%.
The synergy – or lack of it – between knockdown drugs and stabilizers in treating transthyretin (TTR)-mediated amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) became one of the topics for debate in the aftermath of the phase III fizzle with gene silencer Wainua (eplontersen), advanced by Astrazeneca plc and Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc.
News of the unexpected phase III failure of the gene silencing drug Wainua (eplontersen) in the treatment of transthyretin-mediated amyloid cardiomyopathy sent Astrazeneca plc’s shares (NYSE:AZN) down $10.88 to close July 9 at $178.40.
Encouraging phase I data this week of new treatments for vitiligo, a chronic autoimmune disorder that destroys melanocytes, drove investor excitement, with Forte Biosciences Inc. the latest company to disclose a statistically significant benefit.
While the emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy in recent years has significantly improved cancer outcomes, some patients have been unable to experience the full therapeutic benefits of ICIs due to significant gastrointestinal inflammation linked to treatment. Seres Therapeutics Inc. is looking to change that with its live biotherapeutic candidate, SER-155, offering impressive findings from phase I data in ICI-related enterocolitis, or irEC.
Island Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has secured government and ethics approvals to deploy its investigational antiviral galidesivir in patients infected during the escalating Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in Africa, giving the small Australian biotech a rare opportunity to collect prospective human data in an active filovirus emergency.