Cardiovascular

Novo Nordisk reasserted its dominance in the GLP-1 agonist field this week, while Pfizer must hope that one of its two shots on goal is a success.

Arrowhead has spent years in the shadows of rivals Alnylam and Ionis, but could make its mark with new ways to target cardiovascular and lung disease using RNA interference.

The company’s dual drug-device development pipeline is progressing well, especially its direct sodium removal therapy for congestive heart failure.

Sales of the blockbuster Factor Xa blood thinner Xarelto declined more steeply than was expected but Bayer’s second biggest seller Eylea is still performing well.

Patients continued to improve across all three Phase III NEURO-TTRansform co-primary endpoints with 29 more weeks of treatment, setting up eplontersen to challenge Alnylam’s Amvuttra. 

Arrowhead is expecting a flurry of early-stage results from its in-house pipeline, including in lung diseases, where gene silencing platforms have so far struggled to reach, as it banks two recent milestone payments.

The German firm is anticipating a major label expansion in kidney disease for its SGL2 inhibitor later this year, prompting Boehringer to gear up commercial activities as AstraZeneca’s rival Farxiga faces the threat of generic competition.

Neuroscience and oncology fuel high hopes for therapeutic R&D progress among 90-plus surveyed biopharma industry leaders.

Having reached proof-of-concept for its first-in-class SK ion channel inhibitor for atrial fibrillation, the Danish firm is on the hunt for a licensee as it moves its attention to its preclinical program for sinus rhythm maintenance.

Merck has taken two important steps towards its goal of achieving eight new cardiovascular drug approvals by 2030, presenting promising data for two potential blockbusters at the ACC meeting.

Bristol and Janssen detailed the now under way Phase III program for Factor XIa inhibitor milvexian and BMS shared data at ACC to help prescribers get comfortable with Camzyos, launched last year.

Phase III studies testing the oral PCSK9 inhibitor MK-0616 for high cholesterol will begin in the second half of the year and include a broad program enrolling primary and secondary prevention patients.