A pair of good-news items from Chimerix Inc. pushed the Durham, N.C.-based company’s stock (NASDAQ:CMRX) to $2.15, closing up 64 cents, or 42%, higher as backers reacted to near-term NDA plans for smallpox countermeasure brincidofovir (BCV) and the start of a phase II/III trial with dociparstat sodium (DSTAT) in COVID-19 patients with acute lung injury (ALI).
HONG KONG – Israeli biopharma Redhill Biopharma Ltd. is looking to extend access to its new investigational drug, opaganib (Yeliva, ABC-294640), following the drug’s initial success from a compassionate-use study treating six patients in Israel hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19 symptoms.
LONDON – The U.K. has started a fast track national trial of experimental drugs in COVID-19 patients, with Bergenbio ASA’s phase II cancer immunotherapy, bemcentinib, the first of six products that are due to join the study.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Biontech, Cadent, Chimerix, Corbus, Destiny, Dynavax, Erytech, Geneone, Gilead, Gracell, Inovio, Pfizer, United Therapeutics, Windtree.
Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. were dented April 23 after reports surfaced that its antiviral drug, remdesivir, failed to improve the condition of patients with COVID-19.
BEIJING – CAR T specialist Wuhan Bio-Raid Biotechnology Co. Ltd. said its BRD-01, an anti-CD30 CAR T therapy candidate, has been granted IND approval by China’s NMPA. It is the first CD30 candidate to enter the clinic stage amid an increasingly heated CAR T race dominated by candidates targeting CD19 and BMCA.
PERTH, Australia – Australian stem cell company Mesoblast Ltd.’s shares were up nearly 39% on the news that its allogeneic cell therapy showed an 83% survival rate in ventilator-dependent COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) treated at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital.
The phase III failure of Blueprint Medicines Corp.’s avapritinib to meet its primary endpoint of improving progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) pummeled the company stock on Tuesday but boosted shares and hopes at Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Pasadena, Calif.-based Circularity Healthcare LLC has initiated a clinical trial to evaluate its transdermal microcirculation device in COVID-19 patients with underlying health conditions. The aim is to see if use of the noninvasive deoxyhemoglobin vasodilator (from which the product derives its name) improves outcomes in patients suffering from coronavirus-related complications.
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