Developers "haven't even begun to explore" the possibilities with bispecific antibodies, Merus N.V. CEO Ton Logtenberg told BioWorld Today as the field surged forward with his company's Biclonics platform luring Incyte Corp. to a long-term, oncology-focused arrangement that gives Merus $120 million up front, an equity investment of $80 million more, and about another $2.8 billion if milestones are reached.
Novartis AG's farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists represent "an excellent first opportunity for combination products" in liver disease, Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO Steven Mento told BioWorld Today, but not necessarily the only prospect for pairing with oral pan-caspase inhibitor emricasan. "There could be others."
The treatment vs. maintenance conundrum raised by Clovis Oncology Inc.'s accelerated approval of Rubraca (rucaparib) therapy for advanced ovarian cancer is nothing new, Robert Coleman, one of the principal investigators in the ARIEL trial program, told BioWorld Today.
Taking aim at human papillomavirus (HPV)16-induced cervical lesions in a phase I/IIa study with its therapeutic cancer vaccine, Norway-based Vaccibody AS added NOK220 million (US$25 million) to the coffers in a private placement, selling 880,000 shares at NOK250 each.
"We're on the precipice of being able to crack open the science [in neurology]," Amanda Christini, president of Blackfynn Inc., told BioWorld Today. Spun out at the start of 2015 from the University of Pennsylvania, the organization consists of an 11-person team of experts in neurology, neuroscience, computer science, medicine and engineering.
Voyager Therapeutics Inc. has a Parkinson’s disease gene therapy that could last “essentially for as long as the patient lives, but at least 15 or 20 years,” CEO Steven Paul told BioWorld Today, commenting on phase Ib results with VY-AADC01.
CEO Jeff Jonas told BioWorld Today the regulatory path OK'd by the FDA for Sage Therapeutics Inc.'s postpartum depression (PPD) drug SAGE-547 hurries the potential availability in a severe unmet need by at least a year, and "shows the strength of the data package" brought to gatekeepers who said yes to a plan that the company had in mind all along.
