FDA knocks back Sarepta in Duchenne gene therapy race with Pfizer, but analysts urge caution

Doug Ingram, Sarepta CEO (Sarepta)

September 10, 2020 07:07 AM EDT

FDA knocks back Sarepta in Duchenne gene therapy race with Pfizer, but analysts urge caution

Jason Mast

Associate Editor

Sarepta has gone all-in on gene therapy over the last few years, racing with Pfizer and Solid Biosciences to be the first to develop a genetic fix for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, one of the most common rare diseases.

Sarepta has been comfortably in the lead, collecting the first positive results and snaring a $1.15 billion cash commercialization deal with Roche, but this week the company hit a snag. Late yesterday, Sarepta provided a “program update” for its gene therapy, revealing that in a scheduled meeting the FDA had raised concerns about the kinds of tests they would use to measure potency in the pivotal study and commercial supply for the gene therapy. The company has assays that might fit the criteria, they said, but “needed additional dialogue” with the agency to confirm.

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Implementing resilience in the clinical trial supply chain

Nina Vas

Vice President, Clinical Distribution, Cell and Gene Supply Chain

Since January 2020, the clinical trials ecosystem has quickly evolved to manage roadblocks impeding clinical trial integrity, and patient care and safety amid a global pandemic. Closed borders, reduced air traffic and delayed or canceled flights disrupted global distribution, revealing how flexible logistics and supply chains can secure the timely delivery of clinical drug products and therapies to sites and patients.

November 23, 2020 07:27 AM EST

Deals

Coronavirus

In final days at Merck, Roger Perlmutter bets big on a little-known Covid-19 treatment

Jason Mast

Associate Editor

Roger Perlmutter is spending his last days at Merck, well, spending.

Two weeks after snapping up the antibody-drug conjugate biotech VelosBio for $2.75 billion, Merck announced today that it had purchased OncoImmune and its experimental Covid-19 drug for $425 million. The drug, known as CD24Fc, appeared to reduce the risk of respiratory failure or death in severe Covid-19 patients by 50% in a 203-person Phase III trial, OncoImmune said in September.

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Pascal Soriot (AP Images)

November 23, 2020 05:43 AM ESTUpdated 02:00 PM

Coronavirus

UPDATED: AstraZeneca, Oxford on the defensive as skeptics dismiss 70% average efficacy for Covid-19 vaccine

Amber Tong

Editor

On the third straight Monday that the world wakes up to positive vaccine news, AstraZeneca and Oxford are declaring a new Phase III milestone in the fight against the pandemic. Not everyone is convinced they will play a big part, though.

With an average efficacy of 70%, the headline number struck analysts as less impressive than the 95% and 94.5% protection that Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have boasted in the past two weeks, respectively. But the British partners say they have several other bright spots going for their candidate. One of the two dosing regimens tested in Phase III showed a better profile, bringing efficacy up to 90%; the adenovirus vector-based vaccine requires minimal refrigeration, which may mean easier distribution; and AstraZeneca has pledged to sell it at a fraction of the price that the other two vaccine developers are charging.

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November 24, 2020 08:37 AM EST

Bioregnum

Regulatory

The aducanumab conundrum: The PhIII failed a clear regulatory standard, but no one is certain what that means anymore at the FDA

Eighteen days ago, virtually all of the outside experts on an FDA adcomm got together to mug the agency’s Billy Dunn and the Biogen team when they presented their upbeat assessment on aducanumab. But here we are, more than 2 weeks later, and the ongoing debate over that Alzheimer’s drug’s fate continues unabated.

Instead of simply ruling out any chance of an approval, the logical conclusion based on what we heard during that session, a series of questionable approvals that preceded the controversy over the agency’s recent EUA decisions has come back to haunt the FDA, where the power of precedent is leaving an opening some experts believe can still be exploited by the big biotech.

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November 24, 2020 11:14 AM EST

R&D

Genmab axes an ADC development program after the data fail to impress

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Genmab $GMAB has opted to ax one of its antibody-drug conjugates after watching it flop in the clinic.

The Danish biotech reported Tuesday that it decided to kill their program for enapotamab vedotin after the data gathered from expansion cohorts failed to measure up. According to the company:

While enapotamab vedotin has shown some evidence of clinical activity, this was not optimized by different dose schedules and/or predictive biomarkers. Accordingly, the data from the expansion cohorts did not meet Genmab’s stringent criteria for proof-of-concept.

Vas Narasimhan, Novartis CEO (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

November 24, 2020 09:58 AM ESTUpdated 11:20 AM

R&D

Vas Narasimhan's 'Wild Card' drugs: Novartis CEO highlights potential jackpots, as well as late-stage stars, in R&D presentation

Max Gelman

Associate Editor

Novartis is always one of the industry’s biggest R&D spenders. As they often do toward the end of each year, company execs are highlighting the drugs they expect will most likely be winners in 2021.

And they’re also dreaming about some potential big-time lottery tickets.

As part of its annual investor presentation Tuesday, where the company allows investors and analysts to virtually schmooze with the bigwigs, Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan will outline what he thinks are the pharma’s “Wild Cards.” The slate of five experimental drugs are those that Novartis hopes can be high-risk, high-reward entrants into the market over the next half-decade or so, and cover a wide range of indications.

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John Maraganore, Alnylam CEO (Scott Eisen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

November 23, 2020 08:04 PM ESTUpdated 09:21 AM

Pharma

Regulatory

UPDATED: Alnylam gets the green light from the FDA for drug #3 — and CEO John Maraganore is ready to roll

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Score another early win at the FDA for Alnylam.

The FDA put out word today that the agency has approved its third drug, lumasiran, for primary hyperoxaluria type 1, better known as PH1. The news comes just 4 days after the European Commission took the lead in offering a green light.

An ultra rare genetic condition, Alnylam CEO John Maraganore says there are only some 1,000 to 1,700 patients in the US and Europe at any particular point. The patients, mostly kids, suffer from an overproduction of oxalate in the liver that spurs the development of kidney stones, right through to end stage kidney disease.

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Leonard Schleifer, Regeneron CEO (Andrew Harnik/AP)

November 23, 2020 06:32 AM EST

Regulatory

Coronavirus

Trailing Eli Lilly by 12 days, Regeneron gets the FDA OK for their Covid-19 antibody cocktail

Jason Mast

Associate Editor

A month and a half after becoming the experimental treatment of choice for a newly diagnosed president, Regeneron’s antibody cocktail has received emergency use authorization from the FDA. It will be used to treat non-hospitalized Covid-19 patients who are at high-risk of progressing.

Although the Rgeneron drug is not the first antibody treatment authorized by the FDA, the news comes as a significant milestone for a company and a treatment scientists have watched closely since the outbreak began.

Bahija Jallal (file photo)

November 23, 2020 02:00 AM ESTUpdated 06:47 AM

R&D

TCR pioneer Immunocore scores a first with a landmark PhIII snapshot on overall survival for a rare melanoma

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Bahija Jallal’s crew at TCR pioneer Immunocore says they have nailed down a promising set of pivotal data for their lead drug in a frontline setting for a solid tumor. And they are framing this early interim readout as the convincing snapshot they need to prove that their platform can deliver on a string of breakthrough therapies now in the clinic or planned for it.

In advance of the Monday announcement, Jallal and R&D chief David Berman took some time to walk me through the first round of Phase III data for their lead TCR designed to treat rare, frontline cases of metastatic uveal melanoma that come with a grim set of survival expectations.

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