Novartis AG’s monoclonal antibody, ianalumab, has notched back-to-back wins, one in treating Sjögren’s disease and the other for primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP).  In Sjögren’s, which has no U.S. FDA-approved treatment, the phase III Neptunus-1 and Neptunus-2 studies are the first phase III trials to prompt statically significant reductions in adults with the autoimmune disease. In ITP, a disease that has yet to see a cure, top-line data of a phase III study of ianalumab combined with eltrombopag stretched to the time to treatment failure compared to placebo, the primary endpoint showing the maintenance of safe platelet levels.

With a packed pipeline of drug candidates targeting multiple markers of cancer, Bayer AG signed on for a new project, this time going after the KRAS pathway with a global deal that could bring Kumquat Biosciences Inc. up to $1.3 billion in payments.

In less than two weeks, Setpoint Medical Inc. mastered the power serve with the first approval of a neuroimmune modulation device to manage rheumatoid arthritis, followed by a $25 million second tranche of its series C and a $115 million series D financing round.

Eleven pages is relatively short for a modern U.S. FDA draft guidance, but two trade associations nonetheless had questions about the FDA draft for transfers of 510(k) devices, such as how the agency defines the holder of the 510(k).

Kingsley Chin, the CEO of Spinefrontier Inc., has been sentenced to a year of supervised release for his role in the payment of less than $5,000 in consulting fees to a surgeon who provided no consulting services.

Syntara Ltd.’s stock plummeted 52% on news that the FDA recommended an additional phase IIb trial following a type C meeting about the company’s clinical development plan for lysyl oxidase inhibitor amsulostat (SNT-5505, formerly PXS-5505) in myelofibrosis.

After about a two-week absence as the U.S. FDA’s CBER director, Vinay Prasad’s return overall prompted a mild reaction on Wall Street for some stocks tied to companies developing cell and gene therapies.

Billing it as a necessary reform to protect tax dollars from frivolous government spending, redundancy and waste, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a new executive order (EO) requiring his political appointees to sign off on grants and awards from agencies such as the NIH and to monitor those awards over time to ensure they’re being used properly.

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH’s zongertinib enters the market as the first oral HER2-targeted therapy for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, following an accelerated approval by the U.S. FDA. Branded Hernexeos, the drug is cleared for use in adults with unresectable disease or whose tumors have HER2 tyrosine kinase domain activating mutations and who have received prior systemic therapy.

Heartflow Inc. upped the price of shares in its IPO for a second time to $19 on Aug. 7 before opening on the Nasdaq as “HTFL” at $28 and climbing to $31.50 in early trading. The IPO raked in $316.7 million for the 16.67 million shares sold, giving the cardiology company a valuation of $2.27 billion.