Though falling short of the outright takeover that some may have hoped for, Merck & Co. Inc.’s dual tie-ups with Seattle Genetics Inc. (Seagen) put the latter in solid position to shop for acquisitions of its own.
Investors clipped shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc recently as anxieties rose over the application by Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc for a patent that relates to a once-nightly oxybate product that could threaten the prospects for Avadel’s FT-218.
Nessan Bermingham, Korro Bio Inc.’s co-founder and executive chair, told BioWorld that other groups are looking into adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR) – the body’s natural base editing system – but “we’re the first group, as far as I’m aware” to raise big money and bring together what could become the best technology for developing drugs based on an understanding of ADAR.
As Constellation Pharmaceuticals Inc. gears up to start the pivotal phase III study of CPI-0610 in myelofibrosis (MF), Wall Street is mulling how likely are the stars to align for the Cambridge, Mass.-based company with its small-molecule inhibitor of bromodomain and extra-terminal (BET) proteins.
Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc.’s lenabasum having failed its phase III test in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (SSc), attention turned to prospects with the cannabinoid receptor type 2 agonist for other indications.
With the PDUFA date for relugolix against prostate cancer growing nearer and data in castration resistance-free patients closer still, Myovant Sciences GmbH aims to wring more from the oral, once-daily gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor antagonist, studying it in uterine fibroids and endometriosis.
Akebia Therapeutics Inc. CEO John Butler said “a clear path forward” exists for vadadustat in chronic kidney disease (CKD) despite negative phase III safety findings, and the company plans to file for approval as early as next year in the U.S. and Europe.
As the world awaits more phase III data due any day from Akebia Therapeutics Inc. with vadadustat, its oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (HIF-PHI), in chronic kidney disease (CKD), the company is basking in the approval of the product in Japan as Vafseo as a once-daily treatment for CKD anemia.
Less than a month after would-be competitor DBV Technologies SA suffered a regulatory setback with its peanut allergy patch candidate, Aimmune Therapeutics Inc. – which at the start of the year gained FDA clearance for Palforzia in the same space – is undergoing an all-cash takeover valued at $2.6 billion by Nestle SA unit Nestle Health Science SA.
