Ensho Therapeutics Inc. launched in July after licensing a pipeline of four oral α4β7 inhibitors for inflammatory and gastrointestinal disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), from EA Pharma Co. Ltd. “Millions of people worldwide are living with IBD,” Ensho founder, president and executive chair Neena Bitritto-Garg recently told BioWorld, “and while there are a number of approved medications to address the symptoms of IBD, it remains a difficult-to-treat disease with high relapse rates for a considerable proportion of patients.”
Those affected by primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) are fighting back against the recommendation by the EMA that the marketing authorization for Ocaliva (obeticholic acid), a second-line treatment used by 7,000 patients in Europe, be withdrawn. Earlier today, July 25, patients and their supporters staged a protest outside the European Commission building in Brussels to oppose EMA’s position that Ocaliva’s conditional license should be revoked.
Xinthera Inc. has disclosed integrin α4β7 (LPAM-1) antagonists reported to be useful for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, colitis, pouchitis, gastroenteritis, eosinophilic esophagitis and lung inflammatory disease.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in drug discovery has shown promise in recent years with a growing number of new compounds moving forward in the pipeline.
In the third-largest acquisition announced this year, pharma giant Eli Lilly and Co. is buying oral integrin therapies developer Morphic Holding Inc. for $3.2 billion. Morphic stock (NASDAQ:MORF) got a tremendous boost from the acquisition, with shares closing 75% upward at $55.74 each on July 8, the day the deal was announced.
The U.S. FDA granted Signum Surgical Ltd. de novo marketing clearance for its Biohealx technology as a treatment for anal fistula. Biohealx is a single use, bioabsorbable implant, designed to not only to treat the condition in a minimally invasive procedure but also promote healing, prevent fistula recurrence and protect patient continence.
Thirtyfivebio Ltd. has announced the award of a £643,371 (US$817,000) grant by Innovate UK to support work on first-in-class small-molecule inhibitors of G protein-coupled receptor 35 (GPR35).
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) has a prevalence of about 25% in the adult population, with steatosis present in >5% of hepatocytes, hepatocyte ballooning and fibrosis as the main hallmarks. Scientists have tested effects of the galectin-3 inhibitor modified citrus pectin (MCP) in ApoE knockout mice fed a western diet.
Two drugs were pushed back by the EMA last week, with a recommendation that Ocaliva, currently the only second line standard of care for treating primary biliary cholangitis, be withdrawn from the market, and a refusal to grant conditional approval for masitinib in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
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