Private Company Edition: AltruBio raised up to $225m and Pheon garnered $120m in series B financings, while Lycia brought in $106.6m in series C cash. Also, Sands Capital closed its third life science fund, totaling $555m, and NewVale Capital debuted with $167m for life science services.

Falling sales are not typically welcomed by investors, while good revenue growth is prized. The first-quarter earnings season provided exceptions to this rule, and then there was Amgen.

Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events and approvals announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.

Recent moves in the industry include new chief scientific officer at Wave Life Sciences, while Alliance Pharma gets a new CEO.

The UK major’s head of respiratory and immunology, Pablo Panella, tells Scrip that AstraZeneca’s well established presence in the field “gives us an edge.”

Next Generation Gene Therapeutics is fast-tracking clinical trials in the US for its gene therapy candidates for Bietti's crystalline dystrophy and classic phenylketonuria, supported by China data, the Chinese venture's CEO tells Scrip in an interview.

Ajax Therapeutics plans to take its type II JAK2 inhibitor into the clinic during the second half of 2024 with the aim of modifying disease in a way that first-generation type I inhibitors do not. 

Combination mechanisms, less frequent dosing and scalability are the goals of the collaboration.

Most of the companies with blockbuster drugs approved over the past decade oversaw their clinical development internally. Lilly holds the lead with eight blockbusters developed in-house.

Scrip analyzed data on top-selling drugs to see how long it takes to surpass $1bn in revenues and grow into $5bn and even $10bn brands.

A Scrip analysis of the industry’s top-selling drugs examines the power of indication expansion to drive revenue growth.

The industry’s top-selling drugs generate billions in revenues each year. Scrip analyzed data on nearly 200 blockbuster drugs to see which are forecast to make the most at peak and over a 14-year time horizon.

Private Company Edition: AltruBio raised up to $225m and Pheon garnered $120m in series B financings, while Lycia brought in $106.6m in series C cash. Also, Sands Capital closed its third life science fund, totaling $555m, and NewVale Capital debuted with $167m for life science services.

Faster, more powerful and able to handle voices and visual images, newly released AI platform GPT-4o could potentially accelerate many tasks currently handled by pharma firms' medical affairs professionals, who are exploring ways to keep themselves relevant while embracing the unprecedented technology, DIA China hears.

Anti-TSLP antibody Tezspire (tezepelumab) showed efficacy in a Phase IIa study versus placebo in COPD patients with lower eosinophil levels than those tested in Dupixent’s pivotal studies.

Phase I/II data for its ADC candidates in myotonic dystrophy type 1 and Duchenne muscular dystrophy indicate potential for biomarker-based accelerated approval in both diseases, Dyne asserts.

The biotech plans to run a Phase II study of ENV-101 in IPF and PPF, followed by a Phase III study that would start in 2026.

The US presidential election in November could mean IRA expansion from a Biden win, but a Trump victory also brings uncertainty.

Falling sales are not typically welcomed by investors, while good revenue growth is prized. The first-quarter earnings season provided exceptions to this rule, and then there was Amgen.

Phase III results suggest Bayer’s elinzanetant has a safety and efficacy advantage over its Astellas rival in reducing hot flashes, but investors are still not convinced the drug will be a blockbuster.

The US vaccines maker has been under the cosh from a very vocal investor who was unhappy with the performance of commercially disappointing COVID-19 shot Nuvaxovid and strategy in general. However, a recent pact with Sanofi worth up to $1.2bn has had a soothing effect.

In this week's podcast edition of Five Must-Know Things: the life of a blockbuster; blockbusters by indication; gene therapy struggles; sun shines on AstraZeneca and GSK; and Korean ventures look to Japan.

The San Diego biotech is also de-emphasizing three ongoing targeted cancer therapy candidates and giving itself the flexibility to focus on RAS- or KRAS-targeting approaches.

The DLL3-targeting bispecific antibody won accelerated approval in extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer among patients treated with platinum chemotherapy.