There was a time not that long ago when Merck & Co. Inc.’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab), with its multiple cancer indications, was seen as the heir apparent to Humira’s title of the biggest blockbuster drug. Not anymore. That title now belongs to Novo Nordisk A/S’ semaglutide, approved as Ozempic in 2017 to treat diabetes and as Wegovy in 2021 to help with weight loss.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. has tapped into Treefrog Therapeutics SA’s high-throughput stem cell manufacturing technology in a deal worth potentially up to $780 million to help it advance its type 1 diabetes programs, including phase I/II asset VX-880.
Led by executives who helmed The Medicines Co., Metsera Inc. has launched with $290 million in financing to develop drugs for treating weight loss, obesity-related conditions and metabolic diseases. The company is stepping into high profile and lucrative glucagon-like peptide-1 territory forged by Eli Lilly and Co.’s Zepbound (tirzepatide) for chronic weight management and Novo Nordisk A/S’s Wegovy (semaglutide), also approved for long-term weight management.
BNC Korea Inc. is picking up exclusive commercial rights to Kariya Pharmaceuticals ApS’ dual GLP-1/GIP agonists for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease in five countries – a move that comes shortly after BNC Korea dropped $1.5 million into the Danish pharma for a 4.5% stake.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. is acquiring Alpine Immune Sciences Inc. for $4.9 billion in cash to gain Alpine’s lead product, phase III-ready povetacicept, which demonstrates best-in-class potential in patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN). Povetacicept (ALPN-303), or “pove,” holds potential “as a pipeline in a product in a number of other serious renal diseases and cytopenias,” Vertex CEO Reshma Kewalramani said during an April 10 conference call, noting that the deal was “just the right fit with just the right assets at just the right phase of development where Vertex can add value.”
With the recent removal of its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis drug from the market, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. is looking to revive investor interest with interim data from its phase II Helios study testing the same drug, AMX-0035 (sodium phenylbutyrate plus taurursodiol), in Wolfram syndrome, a rare indication in which Amylyx could be leading the charge.
The higher of two doses of Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s drug olezarsen for treating adults with familial chylomicronemia syndrome reduced fasting triglyceride levels by 44% from baseline at the six-month mark in a phase III study, but one case of pancreatitis in the trial paints a less attractive picture than top-line data the firm reported in September.
China’s Visen Pharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. is targeting an IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange with three rare endocrine disease therapies licensed-in from Denmark’s Ascendis Pharma A/S, including U.S. FDA-approved Skytrofa (lonapegsomatropin).
Building D&D Pharmatech Inc. has been a rollercoaster ride, according to CEO Seulki Lee. The U.S. and Korea-based biotech is on another ascent, having scored U.S. FDA fast track designation for its metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) drug, ahead of its third attempt at a public listing.
Trouble continues to dog Verve Therapeutics Inc.’s base editor of the PCSK9 gene, VERVE-101, so the company paused enrollment in a phase Ib study in cholesterol lowering to focus on the similarly designed VERVE-102.