Nantkwest Inc. and privately held Immunitybio Inc. trotted out positive early interim results from their advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer studies showing median survival rates more than double the historic rates: eight month’s survival compared to only three. “Anything beyond three months has an impact,” Patrick Soon-Shiong, Immunitybio’s CEO and Nantkwest’s executive chairman, told BioWorld, with understatement about one of the toughest to manage indications in medicine.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Alexion, Ampio, Atyr, Bicycle, Knopp, Kyorin, Mirum, Nantkwest, Organogenesis, United, Verona.
CAJICA, Colombia – Authorities in Brazil released new efficacy data for Sinovac Biotech Ltd.'s COVID-19 vaccine Coronavac that surprised on the downside, suggesting the vaccine could be much less effective than initially indicated for preventing symptomatic infections.
Shares of Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) leapt 11.7% to $185.94, their second biggest gain since 2010, after a phase II trial showed its beta-amyloid-targeting monoclonal antibody, donanemab, appeared to slow by 32% decline in a composite measure of cognition and daily function in patients with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease vs. placebo.
CAJICA, Colombia – A phase III trial for an HIV vaccine developed Janssen Vaccines & Prevention BV is finally moving forward in Latin America and elsewhere in the world after a delay of more than a year caused by slow regulatory progress and worsened by a string of COVID-19 lockdowns.
HONG KONG – Tapping into synergies it sees between the U.S. and Chinese biotech industries, Suzhou, China-based Ascentage Pharma Group Corp. Ltd. is aiming to get its most advanced candidate, HQP-1351 (olverembatinib dimesylate) to market this year for patients with TKI-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia.
Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s miss on a key phase II ambulatory endpoint in its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) trial may have been caused by a dramatic disparity in functional ability at baseline among older vs. younger patients afflicted with the progressively worsening disorder. In any case, Wall Street had knives out, carving 51% of the value away from shares (NASDAQ:SRPT) of the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm, which closed at $82.29, a loss of $86.66, or 51%.