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.

Plus transactions involving Sanofi/Fulcrum, Reneo/OnKure, Lilly/Mitsubishi Tanabe, Lantern/Oregon, Zydus/Eiger and more.

Investors warmed to the results of both GSK and AstraZeneca, where pressures that had emerged for competitors earlier in first-quarter earnings season were not as impactful.

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.

Aiming to help create China’s first original treatment for under-researched rare diseases, the Hope for Rare Foundation is racing against a funding crunch to support translational research in China, its co-founder and secretary-general tells Scrip in an interview.

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.

Indian firms accounted for over 50% of prescription volumes in five of the top 10 therapy areas in the US in 2022, as also 15% of the volume share of biosimilars, delivering savings and widening patient coverage a study by IQVIA said, while also highlighting supply chain risks that need attention.

Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty toppled after recording the highest ever annual sales for a pharmaceutical in 2022, while Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic climbed rapidly. But Merck & Co’s immuno-oncology blockbuster Keytruda was secure in the number one spot in 2023 as COVID-19 receded.

The highs of the COVID-19 era, and the lows that supplanted it, are beginning to fade.

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.

Cipla is stepping into the oligonucleotides space, where it also hopes to help shape the regulatory environment. Action is also anticipated in ‘big, identified areas’ such as obesity that may see potential partnering opportunities with Eli Lilly, with which the Indian firm has an existing alliance for diabetes therapies.

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.

Development has ended for BIIB105 in ALS after it failed to clear a crucial biomarker and show clinical benefit. Also, Biogen opted not to advance ION582 for Angelman syndrome, so Ionis will go it alone.

The QWINT-2 and QWINT-4 trials showed non-inferiority to daily insulin, but efsitora will likely hit the market sometime after competitor Novo Nordisk’s Awiqli.

Cargo Therapeutics has got an early boost from its abstract to be presented the European meeting, while Shattuck has suffered on safety doubts for its CD47 inhibitor.

Experts from across the biotech ecosystem spoke at a Citeline-sponsored panel at Swiss Biotech Day to discuss how pent-up demand was driving investment in areas outside of oncology, but how there was still room for innovation within the cancer market for those who ask the right questions.

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

After starring in India’s first CAR-T treatment, the country’s Indian Institutes of Technology, or IITs, are set to expand their drug development footprint. Scrip takes a look at what the Indian equivalents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have going for them, including sizeable funding and alumni like Alphabet's CEO.

Despite sales success in Japan and a fast track designation in the US, Shionogi’s oral COVID-19 therapeutic has missed statistical significance in a global Phase III trial in patients with mild to moderate symptoms.

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.

As South Korea's doctors continue their long-running protest against a government plan to raise the medical student quota at universities, the walk-outs may be beginning to take a toll on the pharma industry, with many large firms reporting weak earnings in the last quarter.