A mixed bag of top-line phase II data prompted stellar stock results for Prokidney Corp. and its chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes therapy, rilparencel. The results came from two arms of the study, each with its own treatment regime. The market heartily took to the results as the company’s stock (NASDAQ:PROK) closed 515% upward at $3.73 per share after starting the day under $1 each.
Led by the American Academy of Pediatrics, several medical groups went to court July 7 to force Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy to restore the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for pregnant women and healthy children ages 6 months to 17 years.
Boston Scientific Corp. gained a second U.S. FDA approval for its Farapulse pulsed field ablation catheter, expanding its use into drug-refractory, symptomatic persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) in addition to its existing approval for paroxysmal AF. The expanded indication marks the first of several regulatory approvals the company expects in the coming months.
President Donald Trump signed House Resolution 1, the final version of which does not impose a moratorium on state legislation governing the use of AI. The bill does, however, restore the full deductibility of research and development expenses, which will be retroactive to 2022 for businesses that gross $31 million or less per year.
Finding they were “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedures Act, the District Court for the District of Columbia vacated a White House Office of Personnel Management memo and a subsequent Department of Health and Human Services’ guidance intended to implement President Donald Trump’s Day 1 executive order pertaining to gender ideology.
After delaying a June PDUFA date, the U.S. FDA has approved Kalvista Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Ekterly (sebetralstat) for hereditary angioedema (HAE) in those aged 12 and older. The plasma kallikrein inhibitor now joins a market with previously approved drugs for the rare, genetic, life-threatening condition, as well as other companies with HAE drugs in development. Ekterly is the first orally-delivered on-demand treatment, as all others in the U.S. are intravenously or subcutaneously administered.
Jasper Therapeutics Inc.’s otherwise upbeat data with subcutaneous briquilimab was hamstrung by apparent trouble with one lot of drug used in the phase Ib/II Beacon study in chronic spontaneous urticaria. Shares of the Redwood Calif.-based firm (NASDAQ:JSPR) closed July 7 at $3.04, down $3.73, or 55%.
With no U.S. CDC director in place yet, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy recently adopted two vaccine recommendations from the April meeting of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), making them official CDC recommendations and ensuring coverage of the vaccines for the specified populations.
Field Medical Inc. continues to reap funding from investors for its pulsed field ablation (PFA) system with a $35 million oversubscribed series B financing round. With treatment of atrial fibrillation already upended by PFA technology, Field sees ventricular tachycardia as a fertile new territory for transformation.
Lunit Inc. reported a new collaboration with Microsoft Corp. July 2 to jointly develop medical AI programs accessible on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.