LONDON – Quell Therapeutics Ltd. has raised $156 million in an oversubscribed series B, enabling it to start a phase I/II trial of its engineered T regulatory (Treg) cell therapy for promoting long-term immune tolerance in liver transplant patients, averting the need for chronic immunosuppression.
Shares of Krystal Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ:KRYS) rocketed 121.7% higher, to $88.44 on Nov. 29, after top-line data showed its investigational gene therapy for dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) achieved the primary endpoint of a pivotal phase III trial, healing 67% of skin wounds associated with the disease vs. placebo at six months.
Molnupiravir, the take-at-home pill from Merck & Co. Inc. hailed as a potential game-changer against COVID-19, is not as effective as previously thought, according to newly released trial data from the company.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Akcea, Astrazeneca, Avrobio, Cytodyn, Gilead, Hutchmed, Index, Ionis, Merck & Co., Pfizer.
What one analyst called “the single most important” nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor in development – Merck & Co. Inc.’s islatravir – has met rocky terrain, with the firm and its partner, Gilead Sciences Inc., pausing combo trials.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Aptevo, Dnatrix, Galapagos, Ocuphire, Oncotelic, Oramed, Santhera, Scynexis, Transgene.
Top-line results of Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd.’s phase III Quantum-First study, testing the addition of quizartinib to chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy alone for adults with newly diagnosed FLT3-ITD positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML), found the combination therapy provided a “statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement” in overall survival vs. standard treatment alone, meeting the trial’s primary endpoint, Ken Takeshita, global head of R&D at Daiichi Sankyo, told BioWorld.