With multiple phase II readouts ahead this year, Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. is "putting all the pieces on the table and we'll assemble them in a way that brings the astronauts back to earth," CEO Amit Munshi told BioWorld.
In previous antibiotic drug development, "you would always look for the one molecule and the one dose that you could use for everything," Entasis Therapeutics Inc. CEO Manos Perros told BioWorld. "Maybe that approach has reached its limit."
With the annual International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH) congress about to begin in Berlin, Shire plc disclosed its bid for another try in hemophilia with a candidate from the hopper of Baxalta Inc., acquired for $32 billion last year.
CEO Sofie Qiao told BioWorld Asia that Vivace Therapeutics Inc. can "probably get into the clinic in the next couple of years" with its lead program – an inhibitor that operates in the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway – thanks to $25 million raised in a series B round. The money supplements $15 million garnered by way of the series A financing in 2015, when the San Mateo, Calif.-based firm was founded.
Efficacy against acute exacerbations of schizophrenia looks strong in top-line phase III data from the four-week Enlighten-1 trial with Alkermes plc's ALKS-3831, but the world won't know until next year about the weight gain and metabolic aspects investigated by a six-month experiment called Enlighten-2.
Early translational work gets the credit for Sage Therapeutics Inc.'s set of late-stage trial readouts due near term, CEO Jeff Jonas told BioWorld. "If you look back at biotech companies in general, I'm not sure I can think of another company that's had such a wealth of potential inflection points clustered together within six months, and having achieved that in such a short period of time," he said.
CEO Sofie Qiao told BioWorld that Vivace Therapeutics Inc. can "probably get into the clinic in the next couple of years" with its lead program – an inhibitor that operates in the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway – thanks to $25 million raised in a series B round.
The contest to find a better migraine drug in the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) pathway had fallout for Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc. as the company unveiled what were called "strongly positive" phase III Promise 1 data – despite a hefty placebo response – with eptinezumab, its lead product candidate to prevent such headaches.
SAN DIEGO – Although "it's going to be a bit of a bumpy road" and the process "won't be as pretty as we would like it to be," clinicians have reached "a point where I think we can start to mix and match the appropriate mechanisms" of immuno-oncology drugs to fit individual patient needs, said Tim Reilly, head of early asset development in oncology for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMS), of New York.
SAN DIEGO – After reporting upbeat data from the first part of an experiment with omaveloxolone for Friedreich's ataxia (FA), Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. has adjusted the second part for better chances of continued victory, vice president of strategy Vineet Jindal told BioWorld at the BIO International Convention.
