In the 10th ap­proval since its 2013 launch, J&J’s can­cer drug Im­bru­vi­ca has se­cured the FDA nod in com­bi­na­tion with Roche’s obin­u­tuzum­ab in adults with the most com­mon form of leukemia — mark­ing the first non-chemother­a­py reg­i­men for treat­ment-naïve pa­tients with chron­ic lym­pho­cyt­ic leukemia/small lym­pho­cyt­ic lym­phoma (CLL/SLL).

The ap­proval ex­pands the use of Im­bru­vi­ca — which is al­so sold by Ab­b­Vie — in front­line CLL/SLL be­yond its use as a monother­a­py. The drug it­self gen­er­at­ed sales of about $2.6 bil­lion last year. The block­buster treat­ment has seen steady growth in mar­ket share, lead­ing the Unit­ed States in first and sec­ond line CLL as well as sec­ond-line man­tle cell lym­phoma (MCL), and is the to­tal pa­tient share leader in Walden­strom macroglob­u­line­mia (WM) — a type of non-Hodgkin lym­phoma — ac­cord­ing to Cred­it Su­isse.

The ap­proval of Im­bru­vi­ca in com­bi­na­tion with CD20 an­ti­body obin­u­tuzum­ab was based on the Phase III iL­LU­MI­NATE study. The 212-pa­tient open-la­bel tri­al test­ed Im­briv­i­ca+obin­u­tuzum­ab ver­sus obin­u­tuzum­ab+chlo­ram­bu­cil (a chemother­a­py treat­ment). At a me­di­an fol­low-up of about 31 months, the Im­bru­vi­ca reg­i­men helped pa­tients live longer with­out their dis­ease pro­gress­ing com­pared to the chemother­a­py reg­i­men (19 months), with 77% re­duc­tion in risk of pro­gres­sion or death, J&J said.

CLL is a com­mon type of can­cer that can de­vel­op from cells in the bone mar­row that lat­er ma­ture in­to cer­tain white blood cells, and ac­counts for about one-quar­ter of the new cas­es of leukemia, ac­cord­ing to the Amer­i­can Can­cer So­ci­ety, which es­ti­mates about 20,720 new CLL cas­es will oc­cur in 2019. SLL is a slow-grow­ing lym­phoma bi­o­log­i­cal­ly sim­i­lar to CLL in which too many im­ma­ture white blood cells cause lymph nodes to be­come larg­er than nor­mal.

Hepatitis delta, also known as hepatitis D, is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis delta virus (HDV) that results in the most severe form of human viral hepatitis for which there is no approved therapy.

HDV is a single-stranded, circular RNA virus that requires the envelope protein (HBsAg) of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) for its own assembly. As a result, hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection occurs only as a co-infection in individuals infected with HBV. However, HDV/HBV co-infections lead to more serious liver disease than HBV infection alone. HDV is associated with faster progression to liver fibrosis (progressing to cirrhosis in about 80% of individuals in 5-10 years), increased risk of liver cancer, and early decompensated cirrhosis and liver failure.
HDV is the most severe form of viral hepatitis with no approved treatment.
Approved nucleos(t)ide treatments for HBV only suppress HBV DNA, do not appreciably impact HBsAg and have no impact on HDV. Investigational agents in development for HBV target multiple new mechanisms. Aspirations are high, but a functional cure for HBV has not been achieved nor is one anticipated in the forseeable future. Without clearance of HBsAg, anti-HBV investigational treatments are not expected to impact the deadly course of HDV infection anytime soon.

Bristol-Myers Squibb’s efforts to expand their checkpoint inhibitor combination have run into another recalcitrant cancer.

The NJ-based pharma announced that a combination of Yervoy and Opdivo didn’t beat out Opdivo alone in patients with resected high-risk melanoma who had very low levels of PD-L1. The drug combo couldn’t improve recurrence-free survival in these post-surgery patients.

Vertex’s golden quarter just got brighter. About a month after the US drugmaker finally clinched a deal with UK authorities to cover its slate of cystic fibrosis (CF) drugs following years of protracted negotiations, the company on Wednesday secured a deal with France for its CF therapy, Orkambi.

After the UK, France has one of the largest CF populations outside the United States. Achieving French reimbursement unlocks an ~7000-patient CF population, around ~2500-3000 of which will likely be eligible to receive (and be reimbursed for) Orkambi, Stifel’s Paul Matteis wrote in a note.

Kymera Therapeutics is turning to a co-founder to run the company.
The protein degradation specialist with a deep-pocket syndicate behind them has opted to give the helm officially to Nello Mainolfi. The new CEO is a veteran of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. He joined Atlas Venture in their entrepreneur-in-residence program and helped launch Kymera as the CSO three years ago with Atlas’ Bruce Booth.
The boast at Kymera is that they’re angling to create a new class of protein degraders, a popular field where there’s been a variety of startups. One of its chief advocates is NIBR head Jay Bradner, who launched C4 just ahead of joining Novartis, where he’s also been doing new work in the field.