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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

FDA committee takes on complex gene therapy safety questions with Novartis' Zolgensma providing lessons learned

Gene therapy biotechs are ready with an arsenal of clinical trials to test the potentially groundbreaking treatments in humans. But an array of complicated safety concerns remain to be addressed—including the correct animal models to use in preclinical research to ensure human testing is safe and how to deliver the medicines safely. That’s the focus of a two-day marathon advisory committee meeting hosted by the FDA this week.  

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Top Stories

Novartis scraps kidney transplant trial after control beats study drug

Novartis’ kidney transplant trial has crashed and burned. Having moved into phase 2 on the strength of evidence that iscalimab may prolong the durability of transplanted kidneys, Novartis has stopped the study after an interim analysis found it may be worse than standard of care.

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Cassava CEO, ‘dazed and confused’, takes to biotech defense handbook by blaming short sellers for woes

The Cassava saga continues as its chief Remi Barbier has come out, guns blazing, against accusations that the biotech may have deliberately misdirected investors on its recent Alzheimer’s readout.

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Sponsored: Accelerating Outcomes with a Pancreatic Cancer Adaptive Platform through Collaboration and IRT Expertise

When your goal is to identify effective and ineffective treatments more quickly than traditional trials through a Complex Innovative Design, the right IRT system is crucial.

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Pfizer, jumping headfirst into the RSV vaccine race, kickstarts phase 3 test

Pfizer is starting a key late-stage trial of its experimental vaccine against a nasty form of a cold virus that can cause pneumonia and death in the young and old, as the race to get a decent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine on the market heats up.

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Rhythm, without missing a beat, installs Shapiro to replace departing CMO

A series of chief medical officers (CMOs) have hit the exits over the past month, with biotechs such as Black Diamond Therapeutics, Replimune and Avidity Biosciences all disclosing departures in recent weeks. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals joined the club on Thursday—but unlike others it had a successor in place and ready to take on the job.

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Forte searching for new direction after only therapy flunks midstage atopic dermatitis trial

Forte Biosciences has decided that an atopic dermatitis treatment called FB-401 just isn’t its cup of tea after a phase 2 clinical trial failed to improve severity of the condition.

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Abbott gets its blood pumping by acquiring clot-removing devicemaker Walk Vascular

Looking to grow its footprint in endovascular surgery, Abbott has taken a step forward by announcing its intent to acquire Walk Vascular.

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A mini-CRISPR system could be 'Swiss knife' in gene editing

Researchers at Stanford University say they have created a mini version of the CRISPR-Cas system that could be easier to deliver into cells for gene therapies. The mini gene-editing system comes after CRISPR pioneer Intellia revealed first-in-human gene editing data in June.

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First Biogen, now the FDA: Congressional Democrats request agency records about Aduhelm's approval

Months after high-ranking Democrats demanded Biogen answer for concerns shrouding its controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, the pair of lawmakers are now making a similar request to the FDA itself, according to a letter sent to interim commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D.

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Researchers replicate COVID-19 infections with lab-grown ‘mini-lungs’

Researchers at UC San Diego have grown miniature human lungs in a lab dish that they say come the closest to mimicking the real thing.

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CDC: 'Perfect storm' fueled a spike in healthcare-associated infections in 2020

Between the heavy use of catheters and ventilators and industry-wide shortages of staff and supplies, the COVID-19 pandemic reversed years of progress in reducing preventable hospital infections, according to a new CDC analysis of national surveillance data.

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Lilly's COVID-19 antibody combo cleared for nationwide use as feds say it can tackle the dominant delta variant

Only a few days after Eli Lilly's COVID-19 antibody combo of bamlanivimab and etesevimab made its return in more than 20 states, federal officials are resuming distribution nationwide. In a Thursday alert, officials said Lilly's drug "can be used in all U.S. states, territories, and jurisdictions" based on data about variants circulating nationwide.

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Fierce Pharma Asia—Sourcing Moderna's COVID vaccine contaminant; Astellas' gene therapy pause; Takeda's cancer drug flop

Moderna and partner have pinpointed the probable source of foreign particles that were found in its COVID-19 vaccine doses in Japan. Astellas paused a gene therapy trial after noting a liver safety signal. A Takeda blood cancer candidate failed in late-stage testing. And more.

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Chutes & Ladders—FDA's top two vaccine leaders to depart in the fall as questions loom over booster shots

The FDA's top two vaccine leaders said they would depart the agency in late-October and November, and the timing of their announcement raises questions around COVID-19 vaccine booster concerns. Former Moderna Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks, M.D., Ph.D., joined Teva's board. Galapagos founder and CEO Onno van de Stolpe will step down once a successor is found as the biotech has lost billions in value recently.

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Resources

Whitepaper: Evaluating current manufacturing platforms for recombinant AAV production

Choose the right AAV platform for your viral vector-based therapy

Whitepaper: The Value of Precision Medicine Informatics Initiatives Research Findings

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Whitepaper: Challenging Tradition: The Argument for Integrated Commercialization to Improve Operational Agility

Today’s economics do not allow manufactures to keep making decisions in an antiquated way. They need to challenge tradition & deliver faster, cheaper, successful launches. Learn how.

Whitepaper: High-yield NK cell culture for allogeneic cell therapy applications

Thermo Fisher Scientific introduces a new NK cell culture medium designed to support feeder-free, high-yield growth for cell therapy applications.

Whitepaper: Going from Process R&D to Clinical APIs Quickly and Effectively

Read four customer success stories and four success factors that helped move pharmaceutical customers of Cascade Chemistry by Aceto quickly and effectively to clinic with trial-ready APIs.

Webinar: Let A Digital Sherpa Uncomplicate The Path for Patients

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eBook: Get solutions to market faster

Read Get to Know Cloud Content Management for Life Sciences and learn how to eliminate silos across all workflows, from R&D to commercialization.

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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