Two days after Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc. signed a molecular glue degrader deal with Novartis AG, two other companies, Biogen Inc. and Neomorph Inc., are moving forward in the same space in a partnership worth up to $1.45 billion. Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen and San Diego-based Neomorph will develop molecular glue degraders (MGDs) for priority targets in Alzheimer’s, rare neurological and immunological diseases, using Neomorph’s MGD platform to identify and validate novel small-molecule protein degraders.
An old target that found new life at Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc. has become the subject of a sizeable deal between the company and Novartis AG, as the pair set about developing molecular glue degraders (MGDs). Shares of Monte Rosa (NASDAQ:GLUE) closed Oct. 28 at $9.48, up $4.59, or 93.9%, on word of the Boston-based firm’s deal with Novartis to advance VAV1 MGDs, including MRT-6160, a prospect undergoing a phase I single ascending dose/multiple ascending dose study in healthy volunteers for immune-mediated conditions.
If the maximum fair prices the U.S. CMS announced after the first round of drug price negotiations are any indication, advocates of the government price setting may be settling for short-term wins at the cost of long-term, more sustainable price reductions driven by competition.
Visterra Inc., a subsidiary of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., reported positive top-line data from the ongoing Visionary phase III study of sibeprenlimab, an anti-APRIL monoclonal antibody for immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN).
DBV Technologies SA CEO Daniel Tasse said his firm will meet “very shortly” with the U.S. FDA for talks that will formalize an accelerated approval process for the Viaskin Peanut allergy patch. “Did this take longer than expected? Yes, it did,” Tasse said during a conference call update. “But this was a choice we made, and it was a necessary choice” in order to nail down precise requirements for the product.
It’s a go for the two phase III Ensure studies of Immunic Inc.’s lead asset in treating relapsing multiple sclerosis. An unblinded data monitoring committee’s interim futility analysis concluded that the placebo-controlled, pivotal studies using vidofludimus calcium may continue as planned, with the program expected by the company to be completed in 2026.
The Japanese government, industry and academia are deliberating health care policies and initiatives to boost Japan’s role in the future of regenerative medicine, experts at Bio Japan 2024 said, as the fruits of cell and gene therapy research come to fruition with new approvals.
U.S. biotechs and regulators ushered in the era of gene therapy in 2023, experts at Bio Japan said, but medical reform is needed to pave the way for the “year of cell therapy” in 2024 and implement wider access to ultra-expensive cell and gene therapies.
During an Innovation Ignited webinar sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, experts talked about how precision medicine has helped advance the field of oncology and how those lessons can be applied to immunology.
Backed by AI technology, Aigen Sciences Inc. raised ₩12 billion (US$8.8 million) in a series A financing round to further advance its cancer and rare disease drug pipelines.
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