News

AbbVie trial failures

Country
United States

A prospective drug for schizophrenia failed to show efficacy in two Phase 2 trials leaving the developer, AbbVie Inc, without a molecule to challenge one of its biggest competitors in the field. The drug, emraclidine, is a small molecule positive allosteric modulator of the muscarinic M4 receptor designed to harness the psychosis in schizophrenia. Current antipsychotic drugs target a direct blockade of dopamine receptors which are overactive in schizophrenia. 

Draghi on the single market

Country
Italy

Mario Draghi, former president of the European Central Bank, has issued another appeal to policymakers to build an integrated capital market for the EU. In a commentary in the Financial Times on 2-3 November, Mr Draghi argues that a unified market would mobilise private capital to back projects in defence, the building of a digital infrastructure, and the mitigation of climate change. Currently the EU is home to more than 30 national and regional stock exchanges, each with its own regulations. A similar decentralised structure exists for bond markets.

Sanofi slowly exits Opella

Sanofi SA has become the latest pharma company to wind down its interest in consumer healthcare in order to focus on proprietary, prescription medicines. The French company is to sell a 50% controlling stake in Opella, its consumer business, to the US private equity group Clayton Dubilier & Rice. Under the deal, Sanofi will retain a significant interest in Opella, while increasing investment in new biopharma products and vaccines, according to Paul Hudson, the chief executive.

Restructuring costs Evotec

Country
Germany

Evotec SE booked reorganisation costs of €62.3 million in the first nine months of 2024 in its ongoing effort to readjust its business model as a service company for the biopharmaceutical industry. The changes have been underway since January and the departure of Werner Lanthaler, the former chief executive. They affect the company’s global business in drug discovery and development as well as certain manufacturing activities.

Novartis raises operating profit

Country
Switzerland

Novartis more than doubled its operating income in IFRS terms in the third quarter on higher sales of its lead products for heart disease, breast cancer, plaque psoriasis, and multiple sclerosis as well as lower impairments for its portfolio assets. Research and development spending fell in the quarter from a year earlier, but still represented 18.7% of sales. R&D spending focused on six products that are in registration in the US, EU, Japan and China. A seventh product, a treatment for malaria, is being reviewed in Switzerland for distribution in the developing world.

GSK guides for lower vaccine sales

Country
United Kingdom

GSK Plc is forecasting an increase in group turnover of 7% to 9% at constant exchange rates this year, but growth is expected to be powered by specialty medicines rather than vaccines. Vaccines for shingles and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) put in a strong performance earlier this year but slumped in the third quarter following a raft of new regulatory measures.

Roche confirms outlook for 2024

Country
Switzerland

The Roche Group expects to raise its dividend this year on the back of a recovery in sales led by strong demand for products treating multiple sclerosis, haemophilia A, and severe eye diseases. Group sales are expected to increase by a mid-single digit figure after rising by just 1% at constant exchange rates in 2023. The expected recovery reflects sales gains by newer products which are gradually offsetting the impact of competition from biosimilar versions of the company’s leading cancer medicines.

New capital for Agomab

Country
Belgium

Agomab Therapeutics NV of Belgium has raised $89 million in new capital to advance a pipeline of candidate products for fibrotic disorders. Announced on 25 October, the Series D round brings total funds raised from investors to more than $320 million since the company’s launch in 2017. Agomab’s newest investors are Sanofi SA and Invus, a US private equity company. Existing investors include Fidelity Management & Research Co and EQT Life Sciences.

New Treg company created

Country
France

Biopharma executives in Europe and Asia, together with their financial supporters, have launched a new company to develop therapies that will both activate and inhibit the function of regulatory T cells (Tregs). Tregs are white blood cells that play a key role in regulating the immune system to ensure that the body responds appropriately to foreign antigens and neoantigens. Announced on 18 October, Regimmune/Kiji TX is the result of a merger between Kiji Therapeutics of France and Regimmune Ltd of Taiwan. The Japan based venture capital group DCI Partner Co Ltd helped execute the merger.

Data from RNA editing in humans

Country
United States

Cambridge, US, based Wave Life Sciences Ltd reported positive proof of mechanism data on 16 October from a Phase 1b/2a study of an RNA editing oligonucleotide drug which restored levels of a critical protein in patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic disease affecting the lung and liver. The estimated prevalence of the disease, with the mutation studied in the trial, is 200,000 in the US and Europe.