China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved Kechow Pharma Inc.’s MEK inhibitor, tunlametinib, for treatment of patients with NRAS-mutated advanced melanoma who were previously treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. The Center for Drug Evaluation granted tunlametinib a priority review. The approval marks the first targeted therapy for this patient population and the first product that originated from Kechow, a privately held firm founded in 2014 to develop small-molecule therapeutics against cancer.

After spending 20 years at Novartis, Radiopharm Theranostics Ltd. CEO Riccardo Canevari told BioWorld that when he joined Radiopharm he wanted to focus on something different within radiopharmaceuticals where no one was playing. “I believe these new modalities are at the beginning of their potential, much like in the immuno-oncology space years ago. That’s a nice place to be,” he said, but it’s not only about competition, it’s also about understanding what other companies are doing and if there is a disease area or a mechanism of action that is not being explored, he said.

Dimerix Ltd. announced a AU$20 million ($US13.22 million) capital raise following the news that its lead candidate, DMX-200, was successful in a prespecified interim analysis of the efficacy endpoint in its pivotal phase III trial in focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a rare kidney disease.

Pharmaust Ltd.’s monepantel met its primary safety endpoints and showed positive signals of potential efficacy in a phase I trial in patients with motor neuron disease (MND)/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). With these results, the company will now progress to a pivotal phase II/III trial by midyear, Pharmaust CEO Michael Thurn told BioWorld.

Amid intensifying competition in the PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint space, Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd. kicked off a phase I study of SB-27, a biosimilar of Merck & Co Inc.’s blockbuster immunotherapy, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), for lung cancer. Posted on clinicaltrials.gov on Feb. 20, the randomized, double-blind, three-arm, parallel group and multicenter phase I study will examine the pharmacokinetics, efficacy and safety of SB-27 against an EU-sourced and U.S.-sourced Keytruda in 135 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

Kazia Therapeutics Ltd. stopped its two-part paxalisib plus radiotherapy phase I trial early based on positive safety and promising clinical responses in patients with phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathway mutation brain metastases from solid tumors. The company plans to meet with the U.S. FDA to discuss a pivotal registrational trial.

CSL Ltd. will review the data further to see if there is a path forward for CSL-112 (human apolipoprotein A-I) after the phase III AEGIS-II trial failed to meet the primary efficacy endpoint in reducing the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients following an acute heart attack.

South Korean biopharmaceutical firm GNT Pharma Co. Ltd. on Feb. 13 reported positive findings from a domestic phase III trial of its neuroprotectant therapy, nelonemdaz (NEU-2000), for patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s AVP-786 missed the primary endpoint for a third time in a phase III trial for agitation associated with dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Two previous phase III trials also failed to show statistical significance for AVP-786.