Tscan Therapeutics Inc.’s Wall Street-pleasing deal with Amgen Inc. in Crohn’s disease (CD) could expand into ulcerative colitis, but meanwhile is bringing $30 million up front with the potential for more than $500 million in preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered single-digit royalties. Shares of Waltham, Mass.-based Tscan (NASDAQ:TCRX) closed May 9 at $3.40, up $1.25, or 58%, as the world learned of the multiyear collaboration with Amgen, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., that will use Tscan’s target discovery platform, Targetscan, to identify the antigens recognized by T cells in patients with CD.
Buoyed by the progress it has made with its lead integrin therapy for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, MORF-057, which significantly reduced disease activity in a phase IIa trial, Morphic Therapeutic Inc. is raising $240 million in a public offering to further advance the candidate through the clinic.
The long-anticipated top-line phase IIa study results for Morphic Therapeutic Inc.’s oral alpha 4 beta 7 integrin inhibitor, MORF-057, have surpassed even the company’s own expectations, with a significant decline in disease activity seen in moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC) patients combined with a safety profile consistent with phase I findings.
Innate Pharma SA inked a licensing deal that grants Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd exclusive worldwide rights to research and develop antibody-drug conjugates using a panel of selected Innate antibodies against an undisclosed target, with a primary focus in celiac disease.
The role of G protein-coupled receptor 35 (GPR35) in gastrointestinal (GI) diseases has been genetically validated for some time, with several pharmaceutical companies advancing programs designed to tackle the target; however, most of these efforts to date have focused on increasing GPR35 activity. ThirtyFiveBio’s approach is different: The newly founded virtual biotech company believes that antagonizing the target and thereby blocking unwanted GPR35 signaling may be a more appropriate way to address GI conditions, including digestive tract cancers.
89bio Inc.’s top-line phase IIb data from the 216-subject study called Enliven testing pegozafermin in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) pushed shares (NASDAQ:ETNB) to a closing price March 22 of $13.68, up $2.75, or 25%. The drug, due next for phase III investigation, is a glycopegylated analogue of fibroblast growth factor 21.
Livzon Pharmaceutical Group Inc. licensed rights to zastaprazan, a gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) treatment candidate, from Onconic Therapeutics Inc. in a $127.5 million deal. Under the agreement, Livzon, which is based in Guangdong, China, obtains the exclusive rights to develop, license, manufacture and commercialize the candidate in greater China. In turn, Seoul, Korea-based Onconic will obtain a $15 million up-front payment, and up to $112.5 million in development, licensing and commercialization milestone payments.
Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc.’s small-molecule Pellino-1 inhibitor, BBT-401, failed to meet the primary efficacy endpoint in a phase II trial in ulcerative colitis (UC). The phase II mid-to-high dose cohort study included 38 patients with active UC enrolled at 37 clinical sites across the U.S., New Zealand, South Korea, Poland and Ukraine.
Carephar Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. obtained marketing approval for keverprazan (KFP-H008) from China’s NMPA for use in duodenal ulcer and reflux esophagitis treatments, allowing it to tap an increasingly competitive market.
One of the most important transformations in the pharmaceutical industry over the next decade is the ability to modify genes or expression and go after any target, Cargene Biopharma Inc. CEO Kathy He told BioWorld, explaining that small molecules and large molecules can only go after 15% of the known targets. But the technology platform of short-interfering RNA (siRNA) opens a huge opportunity to make those inaccessible targets available, she said.
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