Data presented at the 2026 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) meeting have put the spotlight on the arrival of target-selective oral therapies that are set to challenge injected biologics in terms of efficacy, while offering greater convenience and improving access to treatment.
Boston Scientific Corp. revealed much-anticipated data from the Champion-AF trial which showed that its Watchman FLX device provides superior protection from bleeding compared to non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The left atrial appendage closure device also proved noninferior to NOACs in reducing stroke, cardiovascular death, or systemic embolism.
United Therapeutics Corp. is eyeing a possible priority review in its anticipated supplemental NDA for Tyvaso (treprostinil) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) after the second phase III trial hit its endpoints, even besting the impressive findings from the first phase III study reported last year, and positioning United for a substantial commercial launch in 2027.
Analysts were sounding pleased and the company intends to go ahead with a regulatory filing, but investors seem to have wanted more from Viridian Therapeutics Inc.’s top-line data from the elegrobart (formerly VRDN-003) Reveal-1 phase III trial in active thyroid eye disease (TED). Viridian shares (NASDAQ:VRDN) closed March 30 at $18.53, down $8.86, or 32%.
BioWorld tracked 152 clinical trial readouts across phases I through III in February 2026, up from 144 in January but down from 215 in December. Of those, 20 phase III trials reported positive results, while one failed to meet key endpoints. By phase, February’s updates consisted of 50 from phase I, 46 from phase II and 57 from phase III.
The debated and ultimately stock-denting March 26 news from Wave Life Sciences Inc. pushed into the spotlight other firms working with INHBE and activin E.
A next-generation triple incretin therapy jointly developed by Novo Nordisk A/S and China’s United Biotechnology outperformed semaglutide in a phase II trial, signaling intensifying competition in the GLP-1 obesity and diabetes market.
Apparently put off by data with a higher dose, investors in Wave Life Sciences Inc. backed away after the company rolled out data from the phase I portion of its first-in-human Inlight trial evaluating 250 mg of WVE-007, an INHBE GalNAc-siRNA prospect, in otherwise healthy overweight or obese adults.
After previous setbacks with the program, investors largely brushed aside ocular-focused Kodiak Sciences Inc.’s anticipated phase III Glow2 data of tarcocimab tedromer in diabetic retinopathy (DR), so the positive top-line superiority results revealed March 26 caught many by surprise as it sets the company up for an accelerated multi-indication BLA submission.
Innovent Biologics Inc.’s efdamrofusp alfa (IBI-302) met the primary endpoint in the phase III Star trial in neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), and the Suzhou, China-based company will submit an NDA to China’s National Medical Products Administration.