LONDON – Pfizer Inc. is taking further steps to distinguish its third-generation anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, Lorbrena, from the rest of the field, funding a pan-European trial that will use liquid biopsies to track the resistance profile of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC).

A late-stage test of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.'s oral suspension of the steroid budesonide for the treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) achieved both its co-primary endpoints, improving histologic and dysphagia symptom responses vs. placebo during the first pivotal phase III study of an EoE treatment ever to be reported in the U.S. The study, part of the largest EoE clinical program globally to date, also met secondary endpoints, including improvements from baseline to final treatment as measured by an established patient-reported outcome measurement.

As TG Therapeutics Inc.'s phase IIb win in the follicular lymphoma (FL) cohort of the Unity-NHL pivotal experiment testing umbralisib charmed Wall Street, CEO Michael Weiss told investors that the New York-based company is "completely committed to getting our marginal zone lymphoma [MZL] filing in on time and getting to the market" soon. Nobody's forgetting about the opportunity in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), either.

With Stifel analysts recently setting a $41 price target for Urogen Pharma Ltd. and interim data in hand from the trial in bladder cancer with UGN-102, hopes are high that the drug's approach – having already proved its mettle in UGN-101 against low-grade upper tract urothelial cancer (UTUC) – will yield durable results. Shares (NASDAQ:URGN) have been trading at around $22, closing Friday at $21.97.

TORONTO – Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Medicure Inc. said results of a study released last week could nudge the door open wider in the U.S. for a device adapted from the military to normalize lung fluid content in patients suffering from heart failure.

Despite Provention Bio Inc.'s phase IIa top-line data showing PRV-6527 in Crohn's disease did not differentiate from placebo, the company's stock was bumped back less than 1% on Tuesday as it continued to ride high after June's massive leap on heartening data about the company's type 1 diabetes trial of teplizumab.

HONG KONG – South Korea's Helixmith Co. Ltd. has announced the results of a phase III trial extension testing VM-202 (donaperminogene seltoplasmid), a regenerative plasmid DNA gene therapy candidate, in diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN).