Capricor says sayonara to COVID-19 vax
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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Harpoon drug sunk by modest activity, challenging tolerability, forcing pivot from prostate cancer prospect

Harpoon Therapeutics has given up on its onetime lead prospect HPN424. A phase 1/2a prostate cancer clinical trial found the PSMA-targeting T-cell engager had “modest activity with a tolerability profile that has been challenging,” driving Harpoon to discontinue development and focus on other assets.

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Top Stories

Orphazyme on last leg as court-mediated restructuring drives another wave of layoffs

The wheels are almost entirely off Danish biotech Orphazyme after the company’s board of directors called for a court-mediated restructuring, prompting the second round of layoffs in less than a year—this time for half of the global staff. 

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Capricor culls COVID-19 vax work but eyes phase 3 for Duchenne therapy

Capricor Therapeutics will get enrollment underway in a phase 3 trial for its Duchenne muscular dystrophy cell therapy next quarter, while development of a COVID-19 vaccine is coming to a halt. 

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AbbVie doubles down on Gedeon Richter pact that brought Vraylar to the world

They worked together before on bipolar medication Vraylar, and now Allergan—ahem, AbbVie—will try to repeat that success with Gedeon Richter. AbbVie, which of course absorbed Allergan two years ago, announced it will continue its partnership with the Hungarian pharmaceutical company to create dopamine receptor modulators for neuropsychiatric diseases.

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Immunome's COVID-19 antibody cocktail back on track for phase 1 after FDA lifts hold

Immunome’s antibody cocktail COVID-19 treatment is free from an FDA hold, two months after the pause was first placed. 

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Histogen seeks to tear up COVID-19 R&D pact and go solo, accuses Amerimmune of failing to push on into phase 2

The collaboration between Histogen and Amerimmune has soured. Believing Amerimmune has failed to meet its R&D responsibilities, Histogen is seeking to terminate the collaboration agreement and retake control of the COVID-19 development program.

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MorphoSys cans US R&D to consolidate work in Germany, taking $254M charge

MorphoSys is axing its early pipeline and U.S. R&D work that came with the $1.7 billion purchase of Constellation Pharmaceuticals, which will mean a more than $250 million impairment charge as the German pharma shifts work home. 

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BeiGene, Hutchmed, Zai Lab tagged for potential US delisting under SEC audit rules, with more Chinese biotechs likely to face scrutiny

The U.S. securities watchdog has set the countdown timer for the delisting of three leading Chinese biotechs from the Nasdaq as a newly installed foreign audit law threatens to banish more Chinese firms from the U.S. stock market.

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FDA slams Philips' 'inadequate' efforts to notify patients, suppliers of CPAP recall

Nine months into Philips’ wide-ranging Class I recall of many of its CPAP and BiPAP machines and other respiratory devices, the FDA isn’t entirely pleased with how the company has handled the recall.

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AbbVie touts Qulipta chronic migraine win as Biohaven duel heats up

Oral CGRP inhibitors made by AbbVie and Biohaven are quickly gaining share in the migraine market. But unlike their injectable peers, the two oral options have their prevention labels limited to episodic patients. That might change soon with new data from AbbVie's Qulipta.

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Exact Sciences enlists Katie Couric for new commercial to promote Cologuard, colorectal cancer screening

It’s been 22 years since Katie Couric famously got a colonoscopy live on the "Today" show, sparking a surge in colon cancer screenings that doctors nicknamed “the Katie Couric effect.” Will she give a similar boost to Exact Sciences’ at-home screening kit Cologuard?

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Surgical robot maker Memic backtracks on SPAC pact

For the second time in as many months, a medtech maker with visions of the public market has pulled out of a lucrative reverse merger deal.

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Fierce Pharma Asia—Legend CEO's cell therapy ambitions; Indian pharmas' awkward position; new Hutchmed CEO

Legend Biotech CEO talks about its cell therapy ambitions. The Indian government's reluctance to take a harsh stance on Russia could backfire for its pharma industry. Hutchmed unveiled a new CEO as its first FDA decision nears. And more.

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Chutes & Ladders—Janssen's US oncology lead jumps to Teon as CEO

Teon Therapeutics poached Johnson & Johnson's Janssen U.S. oncology leader Serge Messerlian to be CEO. BeiGene's hematology chief medical officer Jane Huang, M.D., resigned to become CMO of Prelude Therapeutics. And ex-Adastra Pharmaceuticals CEO Scott Megafinn is now chief of Morningside's Adiso Therapeutics.

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