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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Ipsen pulls FDA rare disease filing, dealing yet another blow to $1B bet on rare disease drug

The curse of palovarotene continues. After struggling through a series of setbacks, Ipsen filed for FDA approval of the rare disease drug earlier this year, moving it a step closer to realizing some return on its $1 billion bet on the asset. Now, Ipsen has pulled the filing.

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Top Stories

FDA veteran and outspoken expert Unger retires as the agency finds itself at a crossroads

The FDA is losing a top official as the search for its new commissioner drags on. Ellis Unger, M.D., a cardiologist who led the agency’s Office of Drug Evaluation I, is retiring after 25 years at the agency.

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CytoDyn’s previous HIV filing snafu now on better course after FDA sets them straight

CytoDyn’s efforts to get leronlimab past the regulatory finish line in any indication has been a saga—including an incident in which the biotech sent the wrong data sets to the FDA. But now, the regulator seems to have pointed the biotech in the right direction for a filing for approval in HIV. In a brief update Friday morning, CytoDyn disclosed that the FDA has sent over some comments on the company’s recently resubmitted dose justification report.

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Longeveron drug didn't help with aging frailty, but executives see late efficacy showing as a good sign

Typically, a failed clinical trial does not portend good news for a company’s shares. That’s not the case for Longeveron today, after the small, Florida-based biotech announced that a mid-stage study for an aging frailty drug had failed on one of two endpoints. Executives are nevertheless confident that the trial has revealed some efficacy signals that could inform a later trial with a higher dose.

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Keeping up with COVID-19: Atea reveals trial amendments, new data

After Atea Pharmaceuticals reported early data in June showing its Roche-partnered antiviral can slash the SARS-CoV-2 viral load in hospitalized patients, the company unveiled some changes to that phase 2 program to keep up with the “evolving COVID-19 environment.”

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PureTech Health, having built out internal pipeline, raids Freeline for CMO to oversee clinical trials

PureTech Health has pieced together a wholly owned pipeline in recent years, picking up a prospect from Teva while taking ownership of Ariya Therapeutics and Alivio Therapeutics. With the expansion ratcheting up PureTech’s need for clinical trial expertise, the biotech has lured Julie Krop away from Freeline Therapeutics.

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MiR Scientific snags BMS melanoma, genitourinary commercial leader for cancer detection test

The commercial leader for Bristol Myers Squibb's immuno-oncology melanoma and genitourinary program is departing for miR Scientific. Erik Johnson will be chief operating officer of the company as it prepares to sell its first product.

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Insights into the origin of esophageal cancer could boost early detection efforts

Barrett’s esophagus is a complication of chronic heartburn and a known risk factor for esophageal cancer. A University of Cambridge team found that cells at the top of the stomach can take on the properties of intestinal cells in the formation of Barrett's, and that this change in identity is controlled by two genes.

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Despite pharma's pandemic push, consumer trust in the industry still comes down to costs: study

Turns out it’s going to take more than a successful vaccine response to a global pandemic to make Americans trust pharma companies. A new study from Accenture shows a boomerang back to a familiar topic—drug costs.

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HIMSS21: Former HHS CTO Simcox breaks down health innovation's bright future

Pandemic disruptions have merged with long-term industry trends to create a slew of new opportunities for startups and other healthcare entrepreneurs, Ed Simcox said in a HIMSS21 discussion.

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Fierce Pharma Asia—Seagen's $2.6B bet on China biotech; Enhertu's win over Kadcyla; Takeda's R&D lessons

Seagen licensed a HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate from China's RemeGen, just as AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo touted a head-to-head win for their HER2 ADC Enhertu against Roche's rival Kadcyla. A Takeda exec talked about how the company is taking COVID-19 lessons into its future R&D operations. And more.

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Chutes & Ladders—Merck's Vaxneuvance lead exits to make rival vaccine at Affinivax

Merck is losing the person who led clinical development of its pneumococcal conjugate vaccine Vaxneuvance as Kara Bickham, M.D., picks up the CMO role at Affinivax to bring a rival shot to market.

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Resources

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A one-stop hub for Cytiva resources to support process intesification

Content Hub: Remarque Systems Resource Hub

Remarque Systems consolidates data, then layers on visualization and automated metrics to generate consistent, actionable data insights in real-time. Click here for more info. 

eBrief: Drug Product Process Development: Ensuring a Consistent, High-quality Biologic

Learn about drug product process development challenges and risks, the difference between innovator and biosimilar drug product process development, and more during the drug product process development phase.

Whitepaper: Achieving a Successful Drug Product Technology Transfer

Get insights on key considerations for a successful tech transfer process for manufacturing a biologic drug product, including a case study on overcoming challenges in a process transfer for a sterile diluent.

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