A circuit formed by tumor, immune and nervous systems triggers cancer cachexia and anorexia, the excessive loss of weight, muscle and fat experienced in some cancer types. A new study is the first showing these three actors of a triangle interaction that initiates and feeds the process.
Undeterred by all the unsuccessful biopharma suits challenging the U.S. Medicare price negotiations, Abbvie Inc. filed its own complaint Feb. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to undo CMS’ selection of Botox in the third round of the negotiations.
The U.S. FDA accepted, with priority review, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s NDA submission for oveporexton (TAK-681), bringing the oral orexin receptor 2 agonist closer to clearance in narcolepsy type 1.
As many had predicted following news of a clinical hold on the gene therapy last month, Regenxbio Inc. disclosed receipt of a complete response letter (CRL) regarding its BLA for RGX-121 (clemidsogene lanparvovec) in mucopolysaccharidosis II, an ultrarare neurodegenerative disease in dire need of new therapies.
Genentech Inc. is covering more bases in multiple sclerosis, with its latest swing on fenebrutinib hitting a rare phase III noninferiority win against Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) in primary progressive multiple sclerosis.
Bayer AG’s oral factor XIa inhibitor asundexian significantly reduced ischemic stroke by 26% in patients following a noncardioembolic ischemic stroke or high-risk transient ischemic attack in the phase III Oceanic-Stroke study.
Following on from a successful phase IIa proof-of-mechanism study in myasthenia gravis, NMD Pharma A/S has added clinical data on a second neuromuscular disorder, reporting positive phase IIa results for ignaseclant, in both type I and type II Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
Quince Therapeutics Inc. is scrapping work with dexamethasone sodium phosphate encapsulated in autologous erythrocytes (eDSP) for patients with ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T), and Boral analyst Jason Kolbert said “the core value driver has been effectively removed, and the equity appears fully impaired at this stage.”
Nader Pourhassan, the former president and CEO of Cytodyn Inc., was sentenced Jan. 23 to 30 months in prison for his role in a securities fraud scheme to deceive investors about the Vancouver, Wash.-based company’s development of leronlimab as a treatment for HIV and COVID-19.
Following a clinical hold last October of Intellia Therapeutics Inc.’s Magnitude and Magnitude-2 phase III trials of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing therapy nexiguran ziclumeran (nex-z) to treat transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) and polyneuropathy (ATTR-PN), respectively, the U.S. FDA lifted the hold on Magnitude-2, pushing the company’s shares up by 22% in early trading Jan. 27.