Celltrion Inc. scored a hat-trick of deals to license new antibody candidates, including a $744 million deal with Kaigene Inc. Nov. 3, and a near $500 million deal with Mustbio Co. Ltd. Oct. 31.

An examination of X-ray and MRI scans of 518 patients before and after treatment with Levicept Ltd.’s Levi-04 has shown that, in addition to providing significant analgesia, the selective neurotrophin-3 inhibitor may have a disease-modifying effect in osteoarthritis of the knee.

Dianthus Therapeutics Inc. has joined the recent trend of companies licensing therapies in development from China. The company will pay as much as $1 billion to Nanjing Leads Biolabs Co. Ltd. for DNTH-212, a bifunctional BDCA2 and BAFF/APRIL inhibitor to treat autoimmune disorders.

Anaphylaxis rates caused Larimar Therapeutics Inc.’s stock (NASDAQ:LRMR) to take a hit on the latest data from an open-label study with nomlabofusp in the neuromuscular disease Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), but the company is targeting a BLA submission to seek accelerated approval in the second quarter of next year.

Robust efficacy, competitive tolerability and ease of administration. Those are the qualities for a potential blockbuster antiseizure medication, according to Abe Ceesay, CEO of Rapport Therapeutics Inc., which reported a successful phase IIa trial testing RAP-219 in patients with drug-resistant focal onset seizures and aims to move into a large-scale phase III program in 2026.

Enlaza Therapeutics Inc. will take charge of research through nominating candidates in its potentially $2 billion-plus deal with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. For its efforts, Enlaza is getting $45 million in an up-front payment and equity investment, plus the opportunity to bring in more than $2 billion in research, development, regulatory and commercial milestones and tiered royalties on net sales.

To strengthen its development efforts, Novo Nordisk A/S will collaborate in a deal that could bring Replicate Bioscience Inc. about $550 million. In return, Novo is getting an exclusive, worldwide license to use Replicate’s self-replicating RNA (srRNA) platform to develop the candidates. The two are aiming at targets in cardiometabolic diseases that include treatments for obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The recombinant fusion protein drug telitacicept from Remegen Co. Ltd. and Vor Bio Inc. has notched a phase III win in treating adults with IgA nephropathy. The clinical trial of the fusion protein hit the primary endpoint, reducing proteinuria, too much protein in patients’ urine, in stage A of the study in China.

Taking weight off with a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist and keeping it off once the drug has been discontinued has been a tall order but Response Pharmaceuticals Inc. is seeing progress. Top-line results from its randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group phase II study of RDX-002, in those who had already wrapped up a GLP-1 receptor agonist course for reducing obesity, were positive.