Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Agenus, Alto, Aspera, Bioage, Bionet, Chase, Haya, Intragrand, Jikang, Kiora, PT Bio Farma, Redwire, Senju, Talentec, Titan, Transpire, Zydus.
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Amicus, Ascentage, Beyondspring, Cardiff Oncology, Corcept, Experimental Drug Development Centre, Genmab, Ichnos Glenmark, Immuneoncia, Immunitybio, Imunon, Innovent, Jazz, Johnson & Johnson, Kura, Kyowa Kirin, Nasus, OSE, PDS, Perspective, Remegen, Roche, Traws, Vigil Neuroscience.
New hires and promotions in the biopharma industry, including: A&As: Ability, Ardelyx, Asgard, Entrada, Harvard, Lobe, Priothera, Protara, Sernova, Tenpoint.
The U.S. FDA gave Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s rAAVrh74 viral vector, used in an investigational gene therapy for the treatment of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a step up, making it one of the first platforms to receive the agency’s platform technology designation.
South Korea’s pharmaceutical exports rose nearly 18% year-on-year to reach $2.56 billion in the first quarter (Q1) this year, according to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute. Medical device exports, however, dropped about 5% in Q1 2025 to $1.39 billion, attributed to a drop in trade of implant products to both China and the U.S.
Moderna Inc. once again emerged the winner in a court skirmish over claims that its COVID-19 vaccine infringed two Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. patents. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion May 4, agreeing with a federal district court in Delaware that Moderna didn’t infringe the patents. For both courts, the decision was based on a single issue of claim construction.
Dizal (Jiangsu) Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s LYN/BTK dual inhibitor, DZD-8586, saw tumor shrinkage in 94.1% of patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma following Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitors, the company reported during an oral presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2025 conference.
It’s a good week to be working on drugs targeting STAT6. Kymera Therapeutics Inc.’s, KT-621, the first oral STAT6 degrader candidate to enter the clinic, surpassed expectations with impressive safety, pharmacokinetic and biomarker data from a phase I trial, while potential fast-followers from Nurix Therapeutics Inc. and Recludix Pharma Inc. advanced via respective partnerships with Sanofi SA.
The row between pharma companies and the U.K. government over rebates has intensified, with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry calling up its members to speak on the record, as it ramps up the campaign against paying back over 23% on sales of branded drugs.