April 27, 2017 07:06 AM EDT
R&D
Pharma

An ail­ing As­traZeneca kicks two drugs out of the pipeline and an ex-drug part­ner’s share price is blast­ed

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Richard Mars­den

Last Oc­to­ber Synair­gen saw its shares clob­bered by the news that its Big Phar­ma part­ner As­traZeneca had scrapped a mid-stage study of their in­haled in­ter­fer­on be­ta ther­a­py AZD9412. The drug was de­signed to pre­vent crises for asth­mat­ics dur­ing cold sea­son, but a low num­ber of ex­ac­er­ba­tions was mak­ing it im­pos­si­ble to see whether or not it was hit­ting the pri­ma­ry end­point.

To­day, As­traZeneca $AZN used its quar­ter­ly roundup — fo­cused pri­mar­i­ly on rapid­ly falling rev­enue — to silent­ly toss the drug, cit­ing “strate­gic” rea­sons. And it al­so threw out AZD3412, a myeloper­ox­i­dase in­hibitor in mid-stage test­ing for Parkin­son’s that Glob­al­Da­ta had held out as a sig­nif­i­cant hope in that field.

Synair­gen shares tanked once again on the set­back, plung­ing 46%.

The UK-based Synair­gen, though, isn’t giv­ing up, even though this ther­a­py failed an ear­li­er mid-stage study. CEO Richard Mars­den not­ed:

We re­main pos­i­tive about the po­ten­tial of in­haled in­ter­fer­on be­ta, par­tic­u­lar­ly for pa­tients with COPD who suf­fer due to res­pi­ra­to­ry virus­es. Once we have com­plet­ed the da­ta analy­sis, we will pro­vide an up­date on the pro­gramme and our plans for fu­ture de­vel­op­ment.

AUTHOR

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

john@endpointsnews.com @JohnCendpts
John Carroll on LinkedIn
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March 20, 2023 06:00 AM EDT

Has the mo­ment fi­nal­ly ar­rived for val­ue-based health­care?

Sean Dodge

Healthcare Technology Analyst, RBC Capital Markets

RBC Capital Markets’ Healthcare Technology Analyst, Sean Dodge, spotlights a new breed of tech-enabled providers who are rapidly transforming the way clinicians deliver healthcare, and explores the key question: can this accelerating revolution overturn the US healthcare system?

Key points

Tech-enabled healthcare providers are poised to help the US transition to value, not volume, as the basis for reward.
The move to value-based care has policy momentum, but is risky and complex for clinicians.
Outsourced tech specialists are emerging to provide the required expertise, while healthcare and tech are also converging through M&A.
Value-based care remains in its early stages, but the transition is accelerating and represents a huge addressable market.

March 24, 2023 10:37 AM EDT
R&D

FDA spells out how can­cer drug de­vel­op­ers can use one tri­al for both ac­cel­er­at­ed and full ap­provals

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

The FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence has been a bright spot within the agency in terms of speeding new treatments to patients. That flexibility was on full display this morning as FDA released new draft guidance spelling out exactly how oncology drug developers can fulfill both the accelerated and full approval’s requirements with just a single randomized controlled trial.

While Congress recently passed legislation that will allow FDA to require confirmatory trials to be recruiting and ongoing prior to granting an accelerated approval, the agency is now making clear that the initial trial used to win the AA, if designed appropriately, can also serve as the trial for converting the accelerated approval into a full approval.

March 25, 2023 06:00 AM EDT
Weekly

Lat­est on ul­tra-rare dis­ease ap­proval; Pos­i­tive, if mixed, signs for Bio­gen's ALS drug; Clay Sie­gall finds a new job; and more

Amber Tong

Senior Editor

Welcome back to Endpoints Weekly, your review of the week’s top biopharma headlines. Want this in your inbox every Saturday morning? Current Endpoints readers can visit their reader profile to add Endpoints Weekly. New to Endpoints? Sign up here.

Over the last four years, we’ve honored 80 women whose extraordinary accomplishments have changed the game in biopharma R&D. You can now nominate someone to be highlighted in this year’s special report. Details are here.

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March 24, 2023 02:40 PM EDTUpdated March 24, 08:22 PM
R&D
Pharma

No­vo Nordisk oral semaglu­tide tri­al shows re­duc­tion in blood sug­ar, plus weight loss

Katherine Lewin

News Reporter

Novo Nordisk is testing higher levels of its oral version of its GLP-1, semaglutide, and its type 2 diabetes trial results released today show reductions in blood sugar as well as weight loss.

In the Phase IIIb trial, Novo compared its oral semaglutide in 25 mg and 50 mg doses with the 14 mg version that’s currently the maximum approved dose. The trial looked at how the doses compared when added to a stable dose of one to three oral antidiabetic medicines in people with type 2 diabetes who were in need of an intensified treatment.

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March 24, 2023 11:40 AM EDTUpdated 05:37 PM
R&D
Pharma

Ly­me vac­cine test com­ple­tion is pushed back by a year as Pfiz­er, Val­ne­va say they'll ad­just tri­al

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

Valneva and Pfizer have adjusted the end date for the Phase III study of their investigational Lyme disease vaccine, pushing it back by a year after issues at a contract researcher led to thousands of US patients being dropped from the test.

In a March 20 update to clinicaltrials.gov, Valneva and Pfizer moved the primary completion date on the trial, called VALOR, from the end of 2024 to the end of 2025.

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March 22, 2023 06:09 PM EDT
Pharma
FDA+

FDA ad­vi­sors unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend ac­cel­er­at­ed ap­proval for Bio­gen's ALS drug

Max Gelman

Senior Editor

A panel of outside advisors to the FDA unanimously recommended that the agency grant accelerated approval to Biogen’s ALS drug tofersen despite the drug failing the primary goal of its Phase III study, an endorsement that could pave a path forward for the treatment.

By a 9-0 vote, members of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee said there was sufficient evidence that tofersen’s effect on a certain protein associated with ALS is reasonably likely to predict a benefit for patients. But panelists stopped short of advocating for a full approval, voting 3-5 against (with one abstention) and largely citing the failed pivotal study.

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Clay Siegall, Morphimmune CEO
March 23, 2023 07:07 AM EDTUpdated March 24, 02:24 AM
People

Up­dat­ed: Ex-Seagen chief Clay Sie­gall emerges as CEO of pri­vate biotech

Amber Tong

Senior Editor

Clay Siegall will be back in the CEO seat, taking the helm of a private startup working on targeted cancer therapies.

It’s been almost a year since Siegall resigned from Seagen, the biotech he co-founded and led for more than 20 years, in the wake of domestic violence allegations by his then-wife. His eventual successor, David Epstein, sold the company to Pfizer in a $43 billion deal unveiled last week.

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Sijmen de Vries, Pharming CEO
March 24, 2023 03:21 PM EDT
R&D
FDA+

FDA ap­proves Pharm­ing drug for ul­tra-rare im­mun­od­e­fi­cien­cy dis­ease

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

US regulators cleared an ultra-rare drug from Pharming Group, by way of Novartis, on Friday afternoon.

The Dutch biotech said the FDA greenlit leniolisib for an immunodeficiency disease known as activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta (PI3Kδ) syndrome, or APDS. People 12 years and older can receive the oral drug, to be marketed as Joenja, beginning early next month, Pharming said, five days ahead of the decision deadline set by the FDA as part of a priority review.

March 24, 2023 03:19 PM EDTUpdated March 24, 08:35 PM
Pharma
Marketing

Eu­ro­pean doc­tors di­al up dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion with phar­mas, but still lean to­ward in-per­son med meet­ings, study finds

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

As in-person sales rep access declines in the big five European countries, a corresponding uptick in virtual rep access is happening. It’s not surprising, but it does run counter to pharma companies’ assessment – along with long-held sales rep sway in Europe – that in-person access hadn’t changed.

CMI Media Group and Medscape’s recent study reports that 75% of physicians in the EU5 countries of Spain, Germany, Italy, France and the UK already limit engagements with pharma sales reps, and 25% of those surveyed plan to decrease time with reps.

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Unlock this story instantly and join 163,600+ biopharma pros reading Endpoints daily — and it's free.

An ail­ing As­traZeneca kicks two drugs out of the pipeline and an ex-drug part­ner’s share price is blast­ed

Has the mo­ment fi­nal­ly ar­rived for val­ue-based health­care?

FDA spells out how can­cer drug de­vel­op­ers can use one tri­al for both ac­cel­er­at­ed and full ap­provals

Lat­est on ul­tra-rare dis­ease ap­proval; Pos­i­tive, if mixed, signs for Bio­gen's ALS drug; Clay Sie­gall finds a new job; and more

No­vo Nordisk oral semaglu­tide tri­al shows re­duc­tion in blood sug­ar, plus weight loss

Ly­me vac­cine test com­ple­tion is pushed back by a year as Pfiz­er, Val­ne­va say they'll ad­just tri­al

FDA ad­vi­sors unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend ac­cel­er­at­ed ap­proval for Bio­gen's ALS drug

Up­dat­ed: Ex-Seagen chief Clay Sie­gall emerges as CEO of pri­vate biotech

FDA ap­proves Pharm­ing drug for ul­tra-rare im­mun­od­e­fi­cien­cy dis­ease

Eu­ro­pean doc­tors di­al up dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion with phar­mas, but still lean to­ward in-per­son med meet­ings, study finds