Pfizer gene therapy ups levels of dystrophin expression in Duchenne trial — but another safety setback mars results

May 15, 2020 08:02 AM EDTUpdated 09:47 AM

Pfizer gene therapy ups levels of dystrophin expression in Duchenne trial — but another safety setback mars results

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Pfizer’s gene therapy group is back up at bat with a fresh update of data from its Phase Ib study for a gene therapy intended as a once-and-done treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. And they had some good news, and some bad news, to report.

The good news was primarily in the dystrophin expression they tracked among the now 9 evaluable patients in their first clinical foray for PF-06939926.

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May 24, 2022 08:49 AM EDTUpdated 03:54 PM

R&D

In Focus

A new era of treatment: How biomarkers are changing the way we think about cancer

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

AJ Patel was recovering from a complicated brain surgery when his oncologist burst into the hospital room yelling, “I’ve got some really great news for you!”

For two years, Patel had been going from doctor to doctor trying to diagnose his wheezing, only to be dealt the devastating news that he had stage IV lung cancer and only six months to live. And then they found the brain tumors.

“What are you talking about?” Patel asked. He had never seen an oncologist so happy.

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Michael Corbo, Pfizer CDO of inflammation & immunology

May 24, 2022 10:37 AM EDTUpdated 01:33 PM

R&D

UPDATED: Planning ahead for crowded ulcerative colitis market, Pfizer spells out PhIII data on $6.7B Arena drug

Amber Tong

Senior Editor

Pfizer has laid out the detailed results behind its boast that etrasimod — the S1P receptor modulator at the center of its $6.7 billion buyout of Arena Pharma — is the winner of the class, potentially leapfrogging an earlier entrant from Bristol Myers Squibb.

Pivotal data from the ELEVATE program in ulcerative colitis — which consists of two Phase III trials, one lasting 52 weeks and the other just 12 weeks — illustrate an “encouraging balance of efficacy and safety,” according to Michael Corbo, chief development officer of inflammation & immunology at Pfizer. The company is presenting the results as a late breaker at Digestive Disease Week.

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David Mazzo, Caladrius Biosciences CEO

May 24, 2022 06:42 AM EDTUpdated 01:28 PM

R&D

Cell/Gene Tx

Blaming Covid disruption, supply shortages, microcap biotech hits the brakes on cell therapy trial

Amber Tong

Senior Editor

More than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, we’re not done seeing its disruption of biotech.

That’s according to Caladrius execs, who cited the pandemic as one reason for suspending its Phase IIb trial of a cell therapy as a treatment for coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD). The company plans to go ahead on an interim analysis before deciding what to do with the program, which was built on a licensing deal with Shire in 2018.

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An NYU surgeon transplants an engineered pig kidney into the outside of a brain-dead patient (Joe Carrotta/NYU Langone Health)

May 23, 2022 11:01 AM EDTUpdated 11:45 AM

R&D

'Xenotransplantation is coming': New NEJM paper gives detailed look into 2 pig-to-human kidney transplant cases

Lei Lei Wu

News Reporter

The thymokidney is a curious organ, if you could call it that. It’s a sort of Frankensteinian creation — a system of pig thymus embedded underneath the outer layer of a pig’s kidney, made for human transplantation.

In the first case of pig-to-human xenotransplantation of a kidney into a brain-dead patient, the thymokidney quietly featured front and center.

In that experiment, which took place in September of last year, NYU researchers led by Robert Montgomery sutured a pig thymokidney onto the leg of a brain-dead 66-year-old woman. That case was widely reported on by a horde of major media outlets, including the New York Times, the BBC, and an in-depth feature by USA Today.

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Vlad Coric, Biohaven CEO

May 23, 2022 08:50 AM EDTUpdated 12:42 PM

R&D

UPDATED: Fresh off $11.6B sale to Pfizer, New Biohaven hits Phase III setback just weeks after Vlad Coric chalked up promise

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

When Pfizer bought up Biohaven’s migraine portfolio in the largest M&A deal of the year earlier this month, Biohaven CEO Vlad Coric promised the rest of the pipeline, which will live on under the umbrella of New Biohaven, still has a lot to offer. But that vision took a dent Monday as the drugmaker revealed it’s once again flopped on troriluzole.

The glutamate regulator failed to meet the primary endpoint on a Phase III study in patients with spinocerebellar ataxia, an inherited disorder that impairs a person’s ability to walk, speak and swallow. SCA can also lead to premature death.

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Mihael Polymeropoulos, Vanda Pharmaceuticals CEO

May 24, 2022 02:29 PM EDT

FDA+

Pharma company continues its FDA lawsuit spree, this time after agency denies fast-track designation

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Vanda Pharmaceuticals is making a name for itself, at least in terms of suing the FDA.

The DC-headquartered firm on Monday filed its latest suit against the agency, with the company raising concerns over the FDA’s failure to grant a fast track designation for Vanda’s potential chronic digestive disorder drug tradipitant, which is a neurokinin 1 receptor antagonist.

Specifically, Vanda said FDA’s “essential point” in its one-page denial letter on the designation pointed to “the lack of necessary safety data,” which was “inconsistent with the criteria for … Fast Track designation.”

May 24, 2022 01:29 PM EDT

Coronavirus

Law

Moderna seeks to dismiss Alnylam suit over Covid-19 vaccine component, claiming wrong venue

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

RNAi therapeutics juggernaut Alnylam Pharmaceuticals made a splash in March when it sued and sought money from both Pfizer and Moderna regarding their use of Alnylam’s biodegradable lipids, which Alnylam claims have been integral to the way both companies’ mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines work.

But now, Moderna lawyers are firing back, telling the same Delaware district court that Alnylam’s claims can only proceed against the US government in the Court of Federal Claims because of the way the company’s contract is set up with the US government. The US has spent almost $10 billion on Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine so far.

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May 24, 2022 12:48 PM EDT

Pharma

Marketing

Cracks in the facade: Is pharma's pandemic ‘feel good factor’ waning?

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

The discordant effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on pharma reputation continues. While the overall industry still retains a respectable halo from its Covid-19 quick response and leadership, a new patient group study reveals a different story emerging in the details.

On one hand, US patient advocacy groups rated the industry higher-than-ever overall. More than two-thirds (67%) of groups gave the industry a thumbs up for 2021, a whopping 10 percentage point increase over the year before, according to the PatientView annual study, now in its 9th year.

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Saqib Islam, SpringWorks CEO

May 24, 2022 09:41 AM EDT

R&D

Pfizer spinout SpringWorks will ship its first drug to the FDA before year’s end with PhIII win

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

SpringWorks Therapeutics thinks it has cemented the backbone for its first “pipeline-in-a-product” oncology treatment and will send it to the FDA before the clock strikes 2023 with a Phase III win on Tuesday.

The oral gamma secretase inhibitor, dubbed nirogacestat, beat placebo on the primary goal of progression-free survival in adults with progressing desmoid tumors.

The soft-tissue tumors can lead to long-lasting pain, disfigurement and amputation, and there are currently no approved meds for the rare oncology indication. The tumors typically impact patients aged 20 to 44 years old and disproportionately affect women at rates 2 to 3 times higher, with up to a total of 1,650 new cases diagnosed in the US annually, according to SpringWorks.