La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. discontinued its study LJ401-BT01 due to lack of efficacy and will reassess further development of LJPC-401 (synthetic human hepcidin) based on recent mixed clinical results.

Due to the “dynamic nature of the situation,” officials of Cymabay Therapeutics Inc. declined to comment on the stoppage of work with PPAR-delta agonist seladelpar, but in a press release they pointed to “a series of investigative actions [that have begun in order] to better understand these findings.”  

Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company developing trans sodium crocetinate (TSC) for the treatment of cancer, has reported increased survival for inoperable glioblastoma patients enrolled in the lead-in portion of its open-label phase III study testing TSC plus standard-of-care (SOC) temozolomide and radiation therapy against SOC alone.

HONG KONG – China-based Hua Medicine (Shanghai) Ltd.’s phase III trial of a potentially first-in-class dual-acting glucokinase (GK) activator, dorzagliatin (HMS-5552), has met its primary efficacy endpoint.

Aravive Biologics Inc. dispelled doubts that may have persisted after the disclosure of early data from the ongoing phase Ib portion of the phase Ib/II trial with AVB-500 in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, and Wall Street rewarded the company’s shares (NASDAQ:ARAV) with an 48.1% hike, or $3.13, to close Wednesday at $9.64.

DUBLIN – Crispr Therapeutics AG has delivered what appears, so far at least, to be a safe, functional cure for the first patient enrolled in each of its phase I/II trials of lead CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing therapy CTX-001, in beta-thalassemia and in sickle cell disease.

Cytomx Therapeutics Inc. CEO Sean McCarthy said earlier this month that the firm was “not ready to guide on specific response rates” that the company hopes for in the phase II study with anti-PD-L1 Probody CX-072 in combination with ipilimumab, or ipi (Yervoy, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.) in patients with relapsed refractory melanoma.