UPDATED: Cytokinetics is getting its shot at a major PhIII showdown with Bristol Myers after posting positive data for a rare cardio disease. Shares rocket up

July 19, 2021 07:30 AM EDTUpdated 09:52 AM

UPDATED: Cytokinetics is getting its shot at a major PhIII showdown with Bristol Myers after posting positive data for a rare cardio disease. Shares rocket up

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

After losing a whole lot of market confidence in their lead drug, little Cytokinetics is now lining up for a crucial Phase III pivotal challenge for the next cardio drug in the pipeline. And that will put them toe-to-toe against powerhouse rivals at Bristol Myers Squibb, which just 9 months ago put down a $13 billion wager on what will likely be the first drug approved for the same rare cardio condition the biotech is contending for.

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Adaptive Design Methods Offer Rapid, Seamless Transition Between Study Phases in Rare Cancer Trials

Rupa Doshi

Executive Director, Oncology Program Strategy

Rare cancers account for 22 percent of cancer diagnoses worldwide, yet there is no universally accepted definition for a “rare” cancer. Moreover, with the evolution of genomics and associated changes in categorizing tumors, some common cancers are now characterized into groups of rare cancers, each with a unique implication for patient management and therapy.

Adaptive designs, which allow for prospectively planned modifications to study design based on accumulating data from subjects in the trial, can be used to optimize rare oncology trials (see Figure 1). Adaptive design studies may include multiple cohorts and multiple tumor types. In addition, numerous adaptation methods may be used in a single trial and may facilitate a more rapid, seamless transition between study phases.

Matt Gline (L) and Pete Salzmann

August 2, 2021 07:30 AM EDTUpdated 09:13 AM

Deals

UPDATED: Roivant bumps stake in Immunovant with a $200M deal. But with M&A off the table, shares crater

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Roivant has worked out a deal to pick up a chunk of stock in its majority-owned sub Immunovant $IMVT, but the stock buy falls far short of its much-discussed thoughts about buying out all of the 43% of shares it doesn’t already own.

Roivant, which recently inked a SPAC move to the market at a $7 billion-plus valuation, has forged a deal to boost its ownership in Immunovant by 6.3 points, ending with 63.8% of the biotech’s stock following a $200 million injection. That cash will bolster Immunovant’s cash reserves, giving it a $600 million war chest to fund a slate of late-stage studies for its big drug: the anti-FcRn antibody IMVT-1401.

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August 2, 2021 06:08 PM EDT

Deals

Sanofi preps a multibillion-dollar buyout of an mRNA pioneer after falling behind in the race for a Covid-19 jab — report

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

It looks like Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson is dead serious about his intention to vault directly into contention for the future of mRNA vaccines.

A year after paying Translate Bio a whopping $425 million in an upfront and equity payment to help guide the pharma giant to the promised land of mRNA vaccines for Covid-19, Sanofi is reportedly ready to close the deal with a buyout.

Translate’s stock $TBIO soared 78% after the market closed Monday. A spokesperson for Sanofi declined to comment on the report, telling Endpoints News that the company doesn’t comment on market rumors.

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ENDPOINTS CAREERS

Director, Clinical Program Management

Pliant Therapeutics

South San Francisco, CA, USA

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Rick Pazdur (via AACR)

July 29, 2021 04:22 PM EDTUpdated July 30, 05:28 PM

Pharma

FDA+

FDA's oncology head Rick Pazdur defends the accelerated approval pathway, claiming it is 'under attack'

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

The FDA is sounding the alarm over its accelerated approval pathway as backlash continues over the recent nod in favor of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, and an ODAC meeting on six such approvals that could potentially be pulled from the market — two of which already have.

“Do you think accelerated approval is under attack? I do,” Rick Pazdur, head of FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence, said at a Friends of Cancer Research webinar on Thursday.

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Alan Hirzel, Abcam

August 2, 2021 10:47 AM EDT

R&D

Drug supplier Abcam brings a longtime collaborator in house as part of $340M buyout pact

Josh Sullivan

Associate Editor

BioVision has supplied Abcam with research tools since 1999, and now the two are making it official as part of a merger unveiled Monday.

Abcam will buyout BioVision as part of a $340 million acquisition deal to bring aboard the supplier’s biochemical and cell-based assays for biological research, as well as recombinant proteins, antibodies and enzymes.

The deal will give Abcam control of BioVision’s portfolio and allow for both the expansion of research existing areas of focus such as oncology, neuroscience and epigenetics and preparation to expand into new products. As a part of the deal, Abcam will develop and supply products and services to NKY, the previous owner of BioVision and receive support for ongoing development and commercialization of in vitro diagnostic products.

August 2, 2021 07:30 AM EDTUpdated 09:34 AM

R&D

Tibsovo clears another hurdle for Servier, but can it make Agios' old drug profitable?

Jason Mast

Editor

When European regulators saw the data Agios used to win US approval for their AML drug Tibsovo, they sent the more than decade-old biotech back to the drawing board. A single, single-armed trial was not going to cut it.

On Monday, though, the drug’s new owners announced it had cleared a more rigorous study. In a randomized, Phase III trial of certain newly diagnosed patients, those who received a combination of Tibsovo and chemotherapy lived longer than those who received a combination of placebo and chemotherapy. Those patients also had higher response rates and complete remission rates.

August 2, 2021 07:26 AM EDTUpdated 10:25 AM

FDA+

UPDATED: Watch out GlaxoSmithKline: AstraZeneca's once-failed lupus drug is now approved

Amber Tong

Senior Editor

Capping a roller coaster journey, AstraZeneca has steered its lupus drug anifrolumab across the finish line.

Saphnelo, as the antibody will be marketed, is the only treatment that’s been approved for systemic lupus erythematosus since GlaxoSmithKline’s Benlysta clinched an OK in 2011. The British drugmaker notes it’s also the first to target the type I interferon receptor.

Mirroring the population that the drug was tested on in late-stage trials, regulators sanctioned it for patients with moderate to severe cases who are already receiving standard therapy — setting up a launch planned for the end of August, according to Ruud Dobber, who’s in charge of AstraZeneca’s biopharmaceuticals business unit.

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ENDPOINTS CAREERS

Director-Regulatory

Icosavax, Inc.

Seattle, WA, USA

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July 31, 2021 06:00 AM EDT

Weekly

Not all mRNA vaccines are created equal. Does it matter?; Neuro is back; Private M&A affair; 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.

As part of our broader and deeper drive, Endpoints has been pairing webinars with our special reports to cover more angles on a given topic. In conjunction with Max Gelman’s neuroscience feature, Kyle Blankenship moderated an insightful panel to discuss where the field is headed. You can register to watch it on demand here.

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August 2, 2021 05:05 PM EDT

Pharma

Bristol Myers pulls lymphoma indication for Istodax after confirmatory trial falls flat

Kyle Blankenship

Managing Editor

Amid an industrywide review of cancer drugs with accelerated approval, Bristol Myers Squibb had to make the tough call last month to yank an approval for leading I/O drug Opdivo after flopping a confirmatory study. Now, a second Bristol Myers drug is on the chopping block.

Bristol Myers has pulled aging HDAC inhibitor Istodax’s indication in peripheral T cell lymphoma after a Phase III confirmatory study for the drug flopped on its progression-free survival endpoint, the drugmaker said Monday.