On the heels of China’s approval of Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd.’s rovadicitinib, Sanofi SA is now inlicensing the first-in-class dual JAK/ROCK inhibitor in a deal worth more than $1.4 billion.
China’s National Medical Products Administration has approved Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd.’s rovadicitinib, branded as Anxu, for first-line treatment of adults with intermediate- or high-risk primary myelofibrosis, as well as post polycythemia vera myelofibrosis or post-essential thrombocythemia myelofibrosis.
Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc. is preparing to present a mixed bag of phase III Rise Up data to the U.S. FDA in hopes of “full approval” for mitapivat in sickle cell disease (SCD), which would make it its third indication in rare hematology.
The pressure to replace animal testing with human-relevant assays that are more predictive of human-drug responses has now reached a tipping point, and there is a movement toward greater acceptance of these potentially more translatable tests.
Gene therapy has had its commercial struggles in the past year. The cost to patients is in the millions and fewer are stepping forward for treatment than companies would like. While development continues in this game-changing field, some have struggled with regulatory authorities during development while others have just stepped away altogether.
In a letter to the hemophilia community, Pfizer Inc. reported a death due to cerebellar infarction and subsequent cerebral hemorrhage in a long-term extension trial participant taking the New York-based company’s tissue factor pathway inhibitor antagonist Hympavzi (marstacimab).
Novartis AG’s monoclonal antibody, ianalumab (VAY-736), when added to standard-of-care eltrombopag, extended disease control of primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) by 45%, according to data presented Dec. 9 during a late-breaker abstract session at the 67th American Society of Hematology’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Exicure Inc.’s buyout early this year of GPCR Therapeutics Inc. is paying off in a big way with data from the finished phase II trial testing burixafor (GPC-100). The agent is used with propranolol and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor to mobilize hematopoietic progenitor cells in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) undergoing autologous hematopoietic cell transplant.
Impressive results of a potential second-line combination treatment for multiple myeloma from the Majestec-3 trial of teclistamab plus daratumumab raised eyebrows at the American Society of Hematology’s 67th annual meeting, with the combination showing an 83.4% rate of progression-free survival at three years vs. 29.7% for standard of care.
On the heels of mixed phase III data from Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc. with mitapivat to treat sickle cell disease (SCD), Fulcrum Therapeutics Inc. wowed investors by way of initial results from the ongoing 20-mg dose cohort in the phase Ib Pioneer trial testing oral, once-daily fetal hemoglobin inducer pociredir.