A non-traditional route for financing has been the path to success for Fibrobiologics Inc. In the newest BioWorld Insider podcast, CEO Pete O’Heeron offers insight into the company’s unusual path to a Nasdaq listing in January.
Fulcrum Therapeutics Inc.’s deal with Sanofi SA to develop and commercialize oral losmapimod shone more light on facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a rare genetic disease where Avidity Biosciences Inc. also has an earlier-stage but high-profile program.
A boy participating in the phase II Daylight study of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) “has passed away suddenly,” according to Pfizer Inc. The participant had received fordadistrogene movaparvovec, a mini-dystrophin gene therapy, in early 2023. The fatal serious adverse event was reported May 3 as a cardiac arrest, Pfizer told BioWorld. Pfizer, together with the independent external data monitoring committee, is reviewing the data to understand the potential cause, the company added.
Philadelphia-based Latus Bio Inc., co-founded by serial biotech entrepreneurs P. Peter Ghoroghchian and Beverly Davidson, launched on May 2 with two lead adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy candidates and $54 million in a series A financing.
Synox Therapeutics Ltd. has raised $75 million in a series B round to fund phase III development of emactuzumab, an antibody in-licensed from Roche Holdings AG. The product, a colony stimulating factor 1 receptor inhibitor, was tested by Roche in a number of indications. Synox is taking it into a phase III registrational trial in tenosynovial giant cell tumor on the basis of phase II data showing an overall objective response rate of 71%.
With no drugs approved by the U.S. FDA for treating Becker muscular dystrophy, Edgewise Therapeutics Inc. reported positive two-year, phase Ib data looking at patients’ ability to physically function, plus biomarker data.
Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd. extolled the top-line “positive indication of effect and safety” from the phase II study of Allocetra in treating sepsis and sepsis shock, but the market took another view of the clinical trial. In an analysis of eligible adult patients from the cell therapy’s multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-finding study of 120 enrolled patients, the company also reported low mortality rates.
Biosimilar competition to Amgen Inc.’s denosumab (Prolia/Xgeva) is rising globally, with Mabwell (Shanghai) Bioscience Co. Ltd. gaining the latest China NMPA approval of Maiweijian (TK-006) on April 8. Mabwell’s wholly owned subsidiary, Jiangsu T-mab Biopharma Co. Ltd., gained NMPA clearance of Maiweijian (120 mg) as the first denosumab biosimilar for the indications of U.S.-licensed Xgeva for bone-related diseases.
Less than a month after disclosing that its confirmatory phase III trial of Relyvrio (sodium phenylbutyrate plus taurursodiol) fell short of its endpoint, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. is withdrawing the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) drug from the market.
Beijing- and Shanghai-based Sperogenix Therapeutics Ltd. said that China’s regulatory agency accepted the NDA filing and granted priority review of Agamree (vamorolone) for Duchenne muscular dystrophy on March 26.
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