The busy Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) space took another hit as did shares of Aardvark Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:AARD), which closed March 2 at $5.47, down $7.02, or 56%, after the company disclosed a voluntary pause of the phase III Hunger Elimination or Reduction Objective (HERO) trial testing ARD-101 as a treatment for hyperphagia, or intense hunger, in patients with the disease.
Alaunos Therapeutics Inc. has announced early data from two non-GLP diet-induced obesity (DIO) mouse studies evaluating ALN-1003, the company’s lead small-molecule drug candidate for treating obesity and related conditions, such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).
Gubra A/S has announced the submission in Germany of a clinical trial application (CTA) for a first-in-human study of GUB-UCN2, the company’s lead asset for weight loss. The planned phase I/IIa trial will enroll both healthy volunteers and individuals with obesity, with and without related co-morbidities. GUB-UCN2 is expected to enter clinical development in the first half of this year.
Eli Lilly and Co. got a breather when the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the company doesn’t owe Research Corporation Technologies Inc. (RCT) royalties on its diabetes drugs under a licensing agreement Lilly had made with Phillips Petroleum Co. in 1990 and that Phillips later sold to RCT.
China’s National Medical Products Administration has accepted for review Jiuyuan Genetic Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s drug application for Jikeqin, a biosimilar product to Novo Nordisk A/S’s Wegovy (semaglutide) for obesity.
Breezebio Inc., formerly known as Genedit Inc., has closed $60 million in series B financing to advance its first internal therapeutic programs toward the clinic and to continue expansion of the company’s Nanogalaxy delivery platform.
Coming off a U.S. FDA approval of the first GLP-1 in pill format, Novo Nordisk A/S leaned further into oral drug delivery efforts, partnering with Vivtex Corp. to develop next-generation oral formulations of peptide and protein therapeutics in a potential $2.1 billion deal that marks the highest-profile news for Vivtex since the firm spun out of MIT in 2018.
Porosome Therapeutics Inc. has announced the development of novel first-in-class porosome-targeting small molecules and blood-brain barrier-traversing peptide drugs developed using the company’s Porosome.AI platform to treat various secretory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes.
Almost three months to the day after Protara Therapeutics Inc. made known positive interim data from the phase II trial testing cell-based therapy TARA-002 in pediatric patients with macrocystic and mixed cystic lymphatic malformations (LMs), Palvella Therapeutics Inc. scored positive top-line results from the phase III Selva study evaluating Qtorin 3.9% rapamycin anhydrous gel for microcystic LMs.
RSS
