Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd., of Incheon, South Korea, gained U.S. FDA approval of Epysqli (eculizumab-aagh) as the second biosimilar product to Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Soliris (eculizumab) to treat two rare diseases. The regulatory clearance July 22 grants use of Epysqli to treat paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome – two rare hematologic- and kidney-related disorders known to affect about 50,000 and 5,000 patients in the U.S., respectively.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General disclosed an advisory opinion finding Bluebird Bio Inc.’s fertility support program for a gene therapy treatment could run afoul of federal anti-kickback statutes. That follows a similar opinion against Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., and its fertility program associated with gene-editing therapy Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel). Vertex subsequently filed a lawsuit.
Orum Therapeutics Inc. struck a potential $945 million (₩1.3 trillion) deal with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. to discover novel degrader antibody conjugates (DAC) as targeted conditioning agents for use with gene editing, including Vertex’s gene therapy, Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel).
CSL Behring’s expensive hemophilia B gene therapy is to be reimbursed by the U.K. National Health Service, after the company agreed to an outcomes-based payment scheme. The therapy, Hemgenix (etranacogene dezaparvovec), which has a U.K. list price of £2.6 million (US$3.3 million), was approved under a managed access scheme, in which data will be collected over five years to enable both the long-term effectiveness, and any adverse liver toxicity caused by the transgene, to be monitored.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is progressing mezagitamab to phase III trials after the CD38 monoclonal antibody showed rapid and sustained increases in platelet counts in patients with persistent or chronic primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in a phase IIb trial.
Roche Holding AG’s Genentech Inc. unit received U.S. FDA approval on June 20 of Piasky (crovalimab) to treat adults and children 13 and older with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and a body weight of at least 40 kg (88 pounds).
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has signed an option agreement to in-license Ascentage Pharma Group Inc.’s olverembatinib, an oral third-generation BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). If exercised, the option would allow Takeda to license exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize olverembatinib in all territories outside of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Russia.
Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) can only be cured, to date, using allogeneic stem cell transplantation which, in turn, only works for up to 20% of patients. As calreticulin (CALR) frameshift mutations are the second most common cause of MPNs, targeting this endoplasmic reticulum resident protein is one of the strategies emerging at the forefront of hematological malignancies research.
Geron Corp., a company founded more than three decades ago, is finally celebrating its first U.S. FDA approval. The agency cleared imetelstat, branded Rytelo, for use in transfusion-dependent anemia in adults with low- to intermediate-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, specifically those requiring four or more red blood cell units over eight weeks who have failed or no longer respond to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA) or who are not eligible for ESA treatment.
While Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC awaits this summer’s PDUFA date for the IDH-mutant glioma drug vorasidenib, acquired in the buyout of oncology assets from Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc., the latter unveiled positive data from a global phase III study with oral mitapivat in adults with transfusion-dependent alpha- or beta-thalassemia.
RSS
