The growing number of drugs gaining U.S. FDA approval for Alzheimer’s disease has kept their ability to reduce amyloid beta and tau proteins in the news, but the degenerative disease is not simply a matter of tangles and deposits. A loss of synaptic plasticity and disrupted neural networks underlie the signature impairment of memory and cognition – and those, researchers showed in a recent study in Brain, can be strengthened by non-invasive stimulation that addresses the brain’s electrical dysfunction.
Artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery specialist Insilico Medicine Inc. is progressing INS018-055, its lead compound to phase II trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease that results in progressive and irreversible decline in lung function.
Stoke Therapeutics Inc.’s stock tumbled 32% after the company reported phase I/IIa data of its antisense oligonucleotide, STK-001, in Dravet syndrome, showing it reduced convulsive seizures in children most consistently at the highest dose, with benefits increasing as time progressed.
Taking strides from its start as a Seoul National University laboratory, South Korea’s Cellid Co. Ltd. said July 24 that the MFDS approved an IND for the global phase III trial for its omicron variant-targeting COVID-19 vaccine called AdCLD-CoV19-1 OMI. Approval from the MFDS comes two months after Cellid filed the IND on May 23 for its adenovirus vector platform vaccine “capable of responding quickly to virus mutations,” the company said.
Unexpected cataract cases in top-line data from two of three phase III trials for eye diseases is leading Kodiak Sciences Inc. to quit work with tarcocimab tedromer, an antibody biopolymer conjugate also known as KSI-301.
Artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery specialist Insilico Medicine Inc. is progressing INS018-055, its lead compound to phase II trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease that results in progressive and irreversible decline in lung function.
Vir Biotechnology Inc. said it won’t be discussing further the phase II data from the influenza A prevention study called Peninsula until the company’s second-quarter earnings update Aug. 3, and a closer look at the results has yet to decide the fate of monoclonal antibody VIR-2482, which missed its primary and secondary endpoints.
ArteraAI Inc. released data from a study it said validates the first-ever artificial intelligence (AI)-derived biomarker predicting the benefit of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for stripping prostate cancer of the testosterone it requires to grow.
Endotheia Inc. reported the successful completion of a first-in-human clinical trial of its steerable technology for endoscopic surgery. The single-use device integrates with standard forward-viewing gastroscopes, allowing physicians to replicate the functions of specialized duodenoscopes that are currently used in the treatment of biliary disease.
Argenx SE’s top-line results from the phase II Adhere study with Vyvgart Hytrulo (efgartigimod alfa plus hyaluronidase-qvfc) in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) sparked buzz about other developers in the space with similar mechanisms of action to Vyvgart Hytrulo, such as Immunovant Inc.