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Today’s Big News

Nov 1, 2024

UCB's tau drug flunks phase 2 Alzheimer's trial days after Roche's exit from $120M bet

Essa abandons sole clinical-stage drug after falling short against Xtandi in phase 2 trial

Chutes & Ladders—Biogen boosts C-suite with BMS vet

Kymera zeros in on immunology, seeks partners for cancer candidates

Boehringer Ingelheim drops obesity drug from Gubra partnership

Paragon spinout Jade casts reverse merger spell with Aerovate

Novo Nordisk's semaglutide delivers in phase 3 MASH study, teeing up filings

Featured

UCB's tau drug flunks phase 2 Alzheimer's trial days after Roche's exit from $120M bet

By Nick Paul Taylor

The week after seeing its partner Roche cut and run, UCB has reported the failure of its anti-tau antibody bepranemab to improve cognition and function in people with early Alzheimer’s disease. But UCB looked past the primary endpoint miss and focused on other results that left it “deeply encouraged” by the trial.

Essa abandons sole clinical-stage drug after falling short against Xtandi in phase 2 trial

By James Waldron

Essa Pharma’s sole clinical-stage candidate was on track to fall short against Xtandi in a phase 2 prostate cancer trial, leading the biotech to terminate the study, abandon the candidate and “review strategic options.”

Chutes & Ladders—Biogen boosts C-suite with BMS vet

By Darren Incorvaia,Zoey Becker

Biogen is tapping some top pharma talent to lead its medical efforts. Daniel Quirk, M.D., is the biotech’s new chief medical officer and head of medical affairs. Quirk formerly served as a senior vice president at BMS, including in worldwide medical affairs for immunology and neuroscience and in U.S. medical affairs.

2024 Executive Interviews at Fierce Biotech Summit and New Product Planning

Kymera zeros in on immunology, seeks partners for cancer candidates

By Gabrielle Masson

Kymera Therapeutics is pivoting its focus from oncology to immunology, with plans to only develop cancer programs beyond phase 1 through partnerships.

Discover Turbine’s way to build avatars true to patient biology

Boehringer Ingelheim drops obesity drug from Gubra partnership

By Darren Incorvaia

Boehringer Ingelheim has halted development of an obesity drug from Gubra that it originally pledged to advance back in 2017.

Paragon spinout Jade casts reverse merger spell with Aerovate

By Gabrielle Masson

Paragon Therapeutics’ spinout Jade Biosciences has entered a reverse merger with Aerovate Therapeutics that will allow Jade to start trading on the Nasdaq.

Novo Nordisk's semaglutide delivers in phase 3 MASH study, teeing up filings

By Fraiser Kansteiner

Novo Nordisk on Friday revealed that its star GLP-1 semaglutide met the mark in a late-stage MASH study. The positive results build on the thesis that GLP-1s could become a foundational piece in the treatment paradigm for the fatty liver disease, according to analysts at William Blair.

Drug pricing and the 2024 presidential election

By Ayla Ellison,Zoey Becker

This week on "The Top Line," we explore how each presidential candidate’s approach to drug pricing could shape future policy.

Roche collects more data to support blood tests for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease

By Conor Hale

The two plasma-based, in vitro tests scan for specific proteins linked to changes in the brain to help rule out the chances of Alzheimer’s among people showing cognitive decline.

Fierce Pharma Asia—AZ exec under investigation in China; GSK's lupus deal; Takeda's orexin hiccup

By Angus Liu

AstraZeneca executives past and present are under investigation in China. GSK is paying $300 million upfront to obtain a T-cell engager to develop for autoimmune diseases. Takeda has hit a setback with its orexin receptor 2 agonist danavorexton. And more.

Fierce podcasts

Don’t miss an episode

Closing the menopause care gap

This week on "Podnosis," we explore why the status quo in menopause care isn’t working—and what it will take to improve the system.

The pulse of the medtech industry

Beyond the silo: How engagement fuels healthcare innovation

Resources

Whitepaper

Intensified Biomanufacturing

Unlock the secrets to faster, cost-effective biologics production with intensified biomanufacturing – download the whitepaper and power up your bioprocessing game!

Sponsored by: Syngene International Ltd.

Whitepaper

Is That Heart Attack Really an Adverse Event?

Discover how independent adjudication can safeguard your clinical trials from misidentified adverse events and enhance the credibility of your results.

Planning for success in cell-based manufacturing

Learn how to evaluate quality documentation to help you select the right raw materials at early decision points for your cell-based manufacturing processes.

Presented by: Thermo Fisher Scientific

eBook

Decoding the data

Need the superpowers to select the right lab equipment?

Sponsored by: PHC Corporation of North America

Whitepaper

Strategies to Optimize Expression Challenges of Multi-chain and Bispecific Antibodies

Take a brief journey through some of the efforts that Lonza has made to optimize the manufacturability of bsAbs and other formats, and take a glance towards future directions with an emphasis on the upstream aspects.

Communicating the Value of Biopharma Assets to Potential Investors

How can an emerging company attract the right partner for a therapeutic asset (& optimize its value in a transaction)? This paper offers some insights.

Presented by: Blue Matter