Eli Lilly and Co.’s end last year to its PI3Kα inhibitor program didn’t mean the pharma player was giving up on the target – far from it, as signaled by the potential $2.5 billion deal signed recently to take over Scorpion Therapeutics Inc. and gain rights to phase I/II-stage STX-478 for breast cancer and other solid tumors. The list of developers at work in the space includes Roche AG plus smaller entities such as Celcuity Inc., Menarini Group, Onkure Therapeutics Inc., Relay Therapeutics Inc. and Totus Medicines Inc.
The first successful phase II trial in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) heart disease rolled out from Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc., which said top-line findings from the experiment called Fight DMD showed promising results in the indication that represents the main cause of death for such patients.
Major strides for the company on two fronts – psychedelic therapies and treatment-resistant depression (TRD) – came in the form of Dublin-based GH Research plc’s phase IIb data with GH-001, an inhalable mebufotenin (5-MeO-DMT) activator of serotonin 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A receptors that met not only its primary endpoint but all secondary goals in the TRD experiment. Shares of GH (NASDAQ:GHRS) closed Feb. 3 at $17.99, up $7.39, or 69.7%, on word that the fast-acting, short-duration compound led to a significant reduction from baseline of -15.2 points in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale total score on the eighth day of treatment compared with +0.3 points in the placebo group (a difference of -15.5 points, p<0.0001).
Complete response letter hurdles overcome and U.S. FDA clearance in hand, Axsome Therapeutics Inc. will disclose pricing in about four months, closer to the launch of Symbravo to treat adult migraine with or without aura.
Shares of Tectonic Therapeutic Inc. (NASDAQ:TECX) closed Jan. 30 at $54.84, up $29.12, or 113%, on what Leerink analyst David Risinger called in his report “the most impressive hemodynamic results we have seen” in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Watertown, Mass.-based Tectonic unveiled positive interim data from the phase Ib acute hemodynamic trial with lead candidate TX-45, a long-acting, Fc-relaxin fusion protein.
President Donald Trump’s recently issued executive order (EO) putting a stop to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the U.S. government is sending ripples far and wide, into areas that some might not have anticipated. The FDA has taken down from its website the guidelines regarding action plans related to achieving diversity in clinical trials.
Some favorable and some not-so-great results from separate midstage trials testing the anti-dickkopf homolog 1 antibody sirexatamab in combo regimens for two types of gastrointestinal tumors vexed Leap Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:LPTX), shares of which ended Jan. 28 at 66 cents, down $1.60, or 71%.
As investors look ahead to data shortly from Veru Inc. with enobosarm, the weight-loss space remains hot, with Novo Nordisk A/S reporting favorable top-line results from a phase Ib/IIa trial evaluating amycretin, a unimolecular GLP-1 and amylin receptor agonist for once weekly subcutaneous administration in people overweight or with obesity.
“The [colorectal cancer field is moving, and thankfully it’s moving quickly,” said Marwan Fakih, gastrointestinal specialist at City of Hope, speaking about initial phase II data from Xilio Therapeutics Inc.’s ongoing trial with vilastobart (XTX-101) when paired with PD-L1-blocking antibody Tecentriq (atezolizumab, Roche AG) in metastatic microsatellite stable disease.
Immunoforge Co. Ltd.’s approval of an IND by the Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety reminded Wall Street – not that anybody needed reminding – about the marketplace jostle among therapies for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), where a number of drugs are cleared by the U.S. FDA but significant need remains in terms of efficacy as well as tolerability.
