With Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) having sailed through an FDA advisory panel meeting July 14 centered on its belantamab mafodotin (belantamab), an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) for multiple myeloma (MM), others in the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) space such as Legend Biotech Corp. are further piquing Wall Street’s interest.
Adopting a new strategy in food allergies and others, South San Francisco-based Iggenix Inc. launched with a $10 million series A round to fund work that CEO Bruce Hironaka told BioWorld puts the company “at the front of the wave.” Companies in the allergy space generally “have not taken full advantages of the developments that we’ve seen in the biotech industry over the last 20 or 30 years,” he said.
The matter of how adhesion of its Viaskin Peanut allergy patch relates to efficacy became a major problem for DBV Technologies SA, which drew a complete response letter (CRL) for the once-daily epicutaneous (EPIT) product. Shares of the Montrouge, France-based firm (NASDAQ:DBVT) closed Aug. 4 at $2.34, down $1.76, or 43%, in reaction to the CRL for the patch, designed to protect children ages 4 to 11. The FDA wants DBV to modify the patch, which means a new human-factor study; officials also are requiring clinical data for the modified patch.
Novartis AG didn’t say why the FDA has put off action until September – a delay of three months – on the sBLA for multiple sclerosis (MS) prospect Arzerra (ofatumumab, OMB-157), first cleared in October 2009 for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, but the holdup brought renewed attention to the bustling space, and Immunic Inc. – which held its R&D Day on May 27 – is coming on strong.
Unraveling the eagerly awaited data from Genocea Biosciences Inc.’s phase I/IIa study with neoantigen cancer vaccine GEN-009 turned out less than simple, and the rollout of results – characterized by the company as positive, albeit early – were followed by a haircut for shares (NASDAQ:GNCA), which closed at $3.45, down $1.52, or 31%.
Like many companies, New York-based Abeona Therapeutics Inc. faltered clinically as a result of the COVID-19 virus, which delayed enrollment in the phase III study with EB-101 gene therapy in recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), but the company earlier this month disclosed the restart of patient enrollment in the experiment called Viital.
The bad cohort 1 news from Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. in late April with poziotinib in the phase II Zenith20 study turned itself around in a stock-boosting way as the Henderson, Nev.-based firm unveiled data from cohort 2.
As Carmel, Ind.-based MBX Biosciences Inc., taking aim at rare endocrine diseases, disclosed $34.6 million in a series A financing, CEO and co-founder Kent Hawryluk told BioWorld that “everyone on the leadership team we’ve worked with in prior lives, so to speak,” adding that he’s “excited to have the band back together.”
Since the stock-jolting phase III blowup in March of Milestone Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s etripamil for paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT), questions have lingered regarding the short-acting channel blocker’s regulatory path forward – but no longer. Shares of Montreal-based Milestone (NASDAQ:MIST), which in the spring plummeted to an all-time low of $1.70, made up for the loss and then some, closing at $8.91, up $5.57, or 167%, on word that the FDA has agreed to terms whereby an NDA for the nasal spray may be submitted without launching another phase III study.
