Alexion/AstraZeneca has announced positive top-line results from the Phase III study of ALXN1840 in patients with the rare genetic disorder, Wilson disease, including in patients already on standard-of-care therapies. The compound is ahead of two candidate gene therapies from other companies at early-stage clinical development.

Argenx partners with Elektrofi and Iontas; China’s Qilu obtains global rights to Peptron’s antibody-drug conjugate and also ends co-development pact with Quantum Genomics.

Phase III trials of a number of late-stage investigational therapies are expected to read out during the second quarter of 2021, according to new analysis from Informa Pharma’s product pipeline database Biomedtracker. Some of the Phase III data could be transforming for a few of the less grand players in the pharma sector and here Scrip picks out some of the highlights to look out for in the months ahead.

Private Company Edition: China-focused Nuance Pharma led recent venture capital deals with a $181m series D round, RayzeBio closed a $105m series B and SciNeuro launched with $100m plus other notable rounds from Edgewise, Reneo, BioAge and others.