Business Strategy

Atuzaginstat targets a bacteria associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The higher of two doses showed a 57% slowing in cognitive decline in the Phase II/III GAIN trial in mild to moderate patients with P. gingivalis infection confirmed by saliva test.

Lilly plans a head-to-head study of donanemab versus Biogen’s Aduhelm to see which clears amyloid plaque better and has begun a rolling BLA toward accelerated approval of the Alzheimer’s drug.

The nerve growth factor inhibitor for osteoarthritis pain is one of the last still in development after safety largely sidetracked the class of drugs.

CEO Vas Narasimhan sees Novartis very much as an innovative company so the long-awaited strategic review of Sandoz suggests that the generics/biosimilars business could be spun off or sold fairly soon.

A clinical trial confimred Krystexxa in combination with methotrexate increased response rates in patients with uncontrolled gout.

Metacrine halts development of its FXR agonist compounds in NASH and turn its focus to inflammatory bowel disease. Firm plans Phase II ulcerative colitis study in 2022 with MET642.

The companies announced positive Phase III data for the drug in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis and plan to take the results to regulators in 2022.

After deciding to examine canakinumab's potential in lung cancer on the back of the CANTOS cardiovascular trial, Novartis designed a major late-stage program in oncology for the interleukin-1 beta inhibitor. The second of those CANOPY trials has just come crashing down.

Public Company Edition: Xilio, Ventyx, MiNK and Context went public in the US and later traded at or above their initial public offering prices. Also, Sarepta raised $500m and Relay grossed $350m in new offerings, while Oncopeptides, Esperion, Zymergen and Ardelyx reorganized and cut jobs.

Company hopes a different formulation of its intracanicular insert of cyclosporin might provide longer duration of drug in the eye and better tear production with it.

The French major and partner Regeneron expect to file Dupixent for the rare skin disease next year after a Phase III trial of the blockbuster hit its primary and secondary endpoints.

Avoro Capital, Holocene Advisors and Darwin Global say that Acceleron should sell later for a higher price based on forthcoming data or Merck should raise its bid above $180 per share.