Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Roger Tung said determining who leads isn’t easy in the phase III race that pits his firm against Eli Lilly and Co. and Pfizer Inc. in alopecia areata. That’s because neither of the other companies has “been very direct about the timelines they’re on,” he told BioWorld. “We’ve been pretty clear that our goal is to have an NDA filing in early 2023.”
Anaptysbio Inc. is calling it quits for developing imsidolimab in treating moderate to severe palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP) after its phase II Poplar trial failed to hit its primary endpoint. However, the company said it would continue imsidolimab development for five other indications, including a phase III trial in treating generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP) that’s set to begin in mid-2021.
Shares of Paris-based Abivax SA (Paris:ABVX) fell 25.4% to €21 (US$25.07) on March 8 after the company said it would halt a phase IIb/III trial of its lead candidate, ABX-464, in high-risk COVID-19 patients for lack of efficacy. The decision was based on a data safety monitoring board analysis that Abivax said revealed a "lower than expected rate (10.1%) of progression to severe disease or death with no difference between ABX-464 and placebo groups," each of which also received standard-of-care therapy.
Days after taking the unusual step, for a Chinese company, of terminating a couple of clinical programs, Bio-Thera Solutions Ltd. said it still plans to continue R&D in antibody-drug conjugates, but with a new technology platform, the company told BioWorld.
As the March 27 PDUFA date nears for idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel, also known as BB-2121), the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed chimeric antigen receptor CAR T-cell therapy from Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and Bluebird Bio Inc., investors are looking with increased favor on the approach.
In an unusual move for a Chinese company, Bio-Thera Solutions Ltd. terminated the clinical development of its Trop2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), BAT-8003, and its PD-1 monoclonal antibody, BAT-1306, a month after it halted the phase III-stage HER2-ADC candidate BAT-8001.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Apellis, Aerpio, Bergenbio, Bioeclipse, Brii, Can-Fite, Eli Lilly, GT, Immutep, Longeveron, Macrogenics, Ocuphire, Seelos, Tersera.
Histosonics Inc. is testing its investigational histotripsy technology to destroy liver tumors in two clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe, with the goal of seeking regulatory clearance for the platform in 2022. The technology uses the science of histotripsy, a form of therapeutic focused ultrasound, to mechanically destroy targeted primary and metastatic liver tumors from outside the body.
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