Hopes in postpartum depression (PPD) with an oral version of brexanolone – a synthetic formulation of the endogenous neurosteroid allopregnanolone, approved by the U.S. FDA in 2019 when given intravenously for PPD – were dashed, at least near term, when Lipocine Inc. reported that the candidate failed in a phase III placebo-controlled trial.
Phase II data disclosed March 31 by Pepgen Inc. in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) hobbled the stock but might have been much different if not for one outlier in the 5-mg/kg multiple ascending dose cohort of the ongoing phase II Freedom2-DM1 trial – and Wall Street is pondering what the hitch means for the Boston-based firm as well as the competitive space.
Biogen Inc. hardly blinked at the competition faced by Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc. as the two companies sealed a deal whereby the former has agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of the latter for $41 each, or about $5.6 billion.
Analysts were sounding pleased and the company intends to go ahead with a regulatory filing, but investors seem to have wanted more from Viridian Therapeutics Inc.’s top-line data from the elegrobart (formerly VRDN-003) Reveal-1 phase III trial in active thyroid eye disease (TED). Viridian shares (NASDAQ:VRDN) closed March 30 at $18.53, down $8.86, or 32%.
A regulatory plod that began in 2023 – and met with success in many other territories – at last crossed the U.S. FDA finish line when Novo Nordisk A/S secured approval of Awiqli (insulin icodec) injection 700 units/mL, the first and only once-weekly, long-acting basal insulin.
The debated and ultimately stock-denting March 26 news from Wave Life Sciences Inc. pushed into the spotlight other firms working with INHBE and activin E.
Apparently put off by data with a higher dose, investors in Wave Life Sciences Inc. backed away after the company rolled out data from the phase I portion of its first-in-human Inlight trial evaluating 250 mg of WVE-007, an INHBE GalNAc-siRNA prospect, in otherwise healthy overweight or obese adults.
Maze Therapeutics Inc. continues its journey toward a pivotal program after sharing positive top-line data from the phase II Horizon study with MZE-829, an oral, small-molecule, dual-mechanism APOL1 inhibitor, in patients with broad APOL1-mediated kidney disease (AMKD).
What one analyst called an “intriguing” overall survival signal in phase III results has Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. planning to meet with the U.S. FDA about a would-be sNDA filing for Xpovio (selinexor) in myelofibrosis (MF).
In a competitive and still-needy space where Apogee Therapeutics Inc. CEO Michael Henderson noted that “even modestly differentiated products are quickly becoming blockbusters,” his firm’s IL-13 antibody zumilokibart (zumi, APG-777) has turned up satisfying phase II data in part A of the phase II atopic dermatitis (AD) experiment called Apex in moderate to severe disease. “We’re still digesting the data,” Henderson added, pointing out that the results proved better than Apogee expected at both time intervals tested.
