Merck’s unique approval for Keytruda as a postsurgical treatment for resectable kidney cancer has gained new backing in the form of data showing the PD-1 inhibitor can extend patients’ lives. Keytruda slashed the risk of death by 38% compared with placebo when used after kidney removal in patients with clear cell renal carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer, according to newly released trial results. After four years of treatment, investigators estimated that 91.2% of patients in the Keytruda arm were still alive, versus 86% for the control group. The results, which reached statistical significance, come from an update of the Keynote-564 trial. Previously, disease-free survival results from the same trial supported Keytruda’s 2021 approval as an adjuvant therapy for certain kidney cancer patients at risk of recurrence after surgery. Keytruda’s survival win comes just as Bristol Myers Squibb’s rival PD-1 inhibitor, Opdivo, failed for a second time in ...
Drug shortages are continuing to persist in the UK affecting patients with different conditions, including those with type-2 diabetes who are on GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs). Earlier this month, NHS England issued a National Patient Safety Alert regarding the shortage of GLP-1Ras. This was following a similar one issued in July 2023, which stated and that supplies were unlikely to stabilise sufficiently to meet market demand until at least mid-2024. In response to the January alert, the Diabetes UK issued a statement saying such shortages were being seen globally due to an increase in off-label use of semaglutide for weight loss. The alert issued actions to be taken by healthcare workers, such as only prescribing GLP-1 RAs for their licensed indications, and prescribing Rybelsus, another form of the GLP1RA semaglutide, for new treatment initiations and for those patients who can be switched from AstraZeneca’s Byetta (exenatide) and Novo Nordisk’s ...
CG Oncology’s upsized IPO will support pivotal testing of cretostimogene, an oncolytic virus for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. The clinical program spans tests of the engineered virus as a monotherapy and as part of combination treatments. By FRANK VINLUAN CG Oncology, a company that turns viruses into cancer therapies, has raised $380 million to fund clinical development of a therapy that the company believes could become a new first-line treatment for certain bladder cancers. The stock offering marks the first biotech IPO of 2024. CG was able to raise much more than planned. In preliminary financial terms set earlier this week, the company projected selling 17 million shares in the range of $16 to $18 each, which would have raised $289 million at the pricing midpoint. When CG finalized the IPO terms late Thursday, it ended up offering 20 million shares priced at $19 apiece. Those shares will trade on ...
January 25, 2024, Nanjing, Shanghai, China, and San Jose, California, USA – IASO Bio, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development, production and sales of innovative cell-based drugs, announced the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) Review Center (CDE) has officially approved its fully human BCMA-targeted chimeric antigen receptor autologous T cell injection (Equecabtagene Autoleucel Injection, R&D code: CT103A) for the new expanded indication of refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (Myasthenia gravis, MG). ) clinical trial application (IND) (acceptance number: CXSL2300759). Equecabtagene Autoleucel Injection (trade name: Equecabtagene Autoleucel®) has been approved for marketing by the State Food and Drug Administration on June 30, 2023, for the treatment of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. The approval of this IND for myasthenia gravis further expands This is the second autoimmune indication approved for IND after Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disease (NMOSD). IASO Bio is the first company in China to use CAR-T products for autoimmune ...
Eli Lilly said its experimental gene therapy restored hearing in a boy born with profound hearing loss. The results for this experimental treatment come three months after Regeneron Pharmaceuticals reported early but encouraging data for its hearing loss gene therapy. By FRANK VINLUAN Gene therapy made its first breakthroughs slowing vision loss from inherited eye disorders. Eli Lilly is making the ear this therapeutic modality’s next proving ground, and the pharmaceutical giant now has some encouraging early clinical trial results showing it can work. An 11-year-old boy with profound hearing loss experienced restored hearing within 30 days of receiving the gene therapy, AK-OTOF, Lilly announced Tuesday. These are results for just one patient—the first in a clinical trial that could enroll up to 150 participants. But this early result is a promising sign for the therapy, which Lilly gained in 2022 through the $487 million acquisition of its developer, Akouos. ...
Dangerously low levels of blood sugar—attributed to counterfeit versions of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic—hospitalized three people in the United States last year, the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) told Reuters. In all last year, the AAPCC revealed that there were 3,316 calls from users of semglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic. It was more than double the number of calls from the previous year and a 15-fold increase from 2019, according to CNN. Most of the calls were for severe episodes of the commonly known side effects of semaglutide, which include nausea, vomiting and stomach pain. Most cases were resolved with intravenous fluids and nausea medications. Of the three dangerous U.S. cases of low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia, the AAPCC suspected the users were supplied with fake versions of semaglutide. All three cases were reported from the same regional poison control center, of which there are 55 ...
More than five years after an FDA accelerated approval in a subtype of progressive colorectal cancer, Bristol Myers Squibb now has data supporting its checkpoint inhibitor doublet in newly diagnosed patients. But another approval may have to wait. The dual immunotherapy combo of Opdivo and Yervoy cut the risk of disease progression or death by 79% compared with chemotherapy—with or without targeted therapies—in patients newly diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer that was microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair-deficient (MSI-H/dMMR). Investigators shared the results, from the CheckMate 8HW study, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. After about two years of median follow-up, 72% of patients who received the anti-PD-1/CTLA-4 combo were alive without disease progression, versus 14% in the control group. The results “have potentially practice-changing implications” for previously untreated MSI-H/dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer, lead study author Thierry Andre, M.D., from the Sorbonne Université in Paris, said in a ...
Gilead Sciences said even though Trodelvy missed the main goal of its Phase 3 test in non-small cell lung cancer, the drug’s preliminary results show numerical improvement in patients whose disease did not respond to prior treatment with immunotherapy. The company plans to discuss with regulators a possible path forward in these patients. By FRANK VINLUAN Sales for Gilead Sciences cancer drug Trodelvy are growing, but the company is counting on additional approvals to boost the product to blockbuster status and justify the premium price it paid to acquire the therapy. The drug’s failure in a pivotal lung cancer study is a setback to that strategy. Treatment with Trodelvy, an antibody drug conjugate (ADC), fell short of a Phase 3 study’s main goal of showing statistically significant improvement in overall survival in patients with advanced cases of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Gilead announced Monday. Nevertheless, the company pointed to numerical ...
Eli Lilly’s attempt to wrestle a leukemia market from companies including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, BeiGene and Johnson & Johnson has analysts purring, with the GlobalData team tipping the drugmaker to capture 60% of demand and deliver $3 billion in annual sales. The GlobalData report covers the use of BTK inhibitors in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Pharmacyclics, now part of AbbVie, and J&J created the market with Imbruvica but now face a sea of threats, with the Inflation Reduction Act, increased competition and the looming prospect of generics pointing to a downward trajectory. AstraZeneca’s Calquence began challenging Imbruvica for the CLL market in 2019 and BeiGene’s Brukinsa joined the party last year. But the GlobalData analysts expect Lilly to come from behind to become the dominant force in CLL in the coming years. Lilly won accelerated FDA approval for Jaypirca in CLL last month. While the drugmaker, which acquired Jaypirca in its $8 billion ...
Opdivo plus Yervoy shows promise in treating patients with microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient metastatic colorectal cancer. Image Credit: Adobe Stock Images/Crystal light The combination of Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo (nivolumab) with Yervoy (ipilimumab) showed significant improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) as a first-line treatment for patients with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC)in the Phase III CheckMate -8HW trial. The combination produced a 79% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death compared to chemotherapy, according to the trial. “Patients with MSI-H/dMMR metastatic colorectal cancer are less likely to benefit from chemotherapy,” said Thierry Andre, MD, head of the medical oncology department, Sorbonne University, Hospital Saint-Antoine, Paris, France, in a press release. “An impressive improvement in PFS and sustained benefit beginning at three months was observed with nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus chemotherapy in this trial. These results demonstrate ...
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