Grey Wolf Therapeutics Ltd. added $50 million to its series B, bringing the total for the round to $99 million and providing funding to expand the scope of an ongoing phase I/II trial of its lead antigen modulation program.
Hørsholm, Denmark-based Contera Pharma A/S’ lead asset for levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson’s disease, JM-010, failed to meet its primary endpoint in the late-stage phase IIb Astoria trial. JM-010 is a novel drug formulation and 5-HT receptor modulator that combines existing medications of immediate-release buspirone and extended-release zolmitriptan.
Shares of Redwood City, Calif.-based Rezolute Inc., and Korean parent company Handok Inc., rose May 22 on positive results of a phase II proof-of-concept study for its investigative oral diabetic macular edema (DME) drug, RZ-402. RZ-402 is an oral small-molecule plasma kallikrein inhibitor designed to block vascular leakage and inflammation for treating chronic DME.
Théa Open Innovation, a subsidiary of France’s Laboratoires Théa SAS, returned rights to South Korea’s Curacle Co. Ltd.’s CU-06, an oral diabetic macular edema drug candidate. Curacle posted positive top-line phase IIa data of CU-06 just three months prior.
With positive phase IIa data for ENV-101 in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in hand, showing some lung damage was reversed, Endeavor Biomedicines Inc. said it’s ready to begin further phase II studies in the indication.
Shaking up corporate and pipeline structure, San Diego-based cancer developer Erasca Inc. in-licensed two assets from China-based biopharmas in all-cash deals, while laying off 18% of its workforce, primarily in drug discovery. The flurry of announcements made on May 16, which included $160 million raised in private placement, showed that Erasca would scrap three existing pipeline assets – ERAS-007, ERAS-801 and ERAS-4 – and reshape development to a RAS-targeting franchise.
A new horizon may be opening up in low-grade serious ovarian cancer (LGSOC) with the advent of Verastem Oncology Inc.’s therapy pairing two small molecules: avutometinib (VS-6766), a kinase inhibitor that binds to and inhibits the kinase activities of RAF and MEK to block the signal transduction pathways they mediate; and defactinib (VS-6063), an inhibitor of FAK.
Following a cumbersome process, the U.S. FDA is withdrawing its accelerated approval for Truseltiq (infigratinib) as a second-line treatment for patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma harboring an FGFR2 fusion or rearrangement as detected by an FDA-approved test.
Alto Neuroscience Inc.’s start this spring of the phase II double-blind, single- and multiple-dose study to test the pharmacodynamics of ALTO-203 in major depressive disorder represents another stake planted in a notoriously difficult indication. But getting attention as well is the push by Los Altos, Calif.-based Alto in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with a separate compound.
Buyers challenging patent settlements involving Forest Laboratories LLC’s blood pressure drug, Bystolic (nebivolol), failed to show the deals were illegal pay-for-delay arrangements, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said in unanimously affirming a lower court’s two-time dismissal of the buyers’ antitrust suit.
RSS
