Roche AG established a firm lead in its effort to deliver the first approved therapy for primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), reporting on Monday that its CD20-targeted MAb, ocrelizumab, helped patients achieve a sustained and significant reduction in clinical disability vs. placebo over 12 weeks.
Shares of filgotinib developer Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) fell 27.5 percent to $44.60 on Friday after Abbvie Inc. declined to exercise its option to in-license the JAK1 inhibitor, electing instead to advance its own same-class candidate, ABT-494. The decision ends a deal first struck in 2012 and returns full filgotinib rights to Galapagos, which said it had anticipated the move.
Arrowhead Research Corp. reported new top-line data on its lead RNAi therapy ARC-520, demonstrating that it achieved significant hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen reductions during a phase IIa study, particularly in treatment-naïve patients who tested positive for HBV e-antigen (HBeAg-positive), which is associated with chronic HBV infections and is used as a marker of active viral disease.
Less than a week after enrolling the first patient in a phase IIb/III test of its therapeutic eye drops for dry eye syndrome, Regenerx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. has enrolled the first participant in a phase III study of the therapy, RGN-259, for the potential treatment of neurotrophic keratopathy.
In a potentially lucrative new deal for Xencor Inc., the company is licensing its Xmab antibody engineering technology to Amgen Inc. for inclusion in a series of preclinical bispecific antibodies targeting areas of cancer immunotherapy and inflammation.
Celgene Corp. is tapping San Francisco-based Nurix Inc. to discover and develop several new therapies targeting the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and immune disorders.
Aptinyx Inc., a spinout of Allergan plc-acquired Naurex Inc., has picked up a substantial seed round intended to help it develop a pipeline of preclinical N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor modulators.
Seattle Genetics Inc. priced an upsized public offering, grossing about $480 million to fund the ongoing growth of Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) through efforts to expand the antibody-drug conjugate’s label and to advance the company’s pipeline
Seeing broad potential for Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp.'s oral sphingosine 1-phosphate antagonist MT-1303, Biogen Inc. agreed to pay $60 million up front and up to $484 million in additional milestones for an exclusive license to the phase II program outside Asia.
