Metabolic Disorders

France’s Provepharm Life Solutions, which finds new uses for known mature molecules, in particular antidotes and surgical dyes, by improving their efficacy and maximizing their therapeutic potential, has fresh funds to expand its portfolio.

Provention has been working hard collecting necessary data for a potential BLA resubmission for teplizumab in patients at risk of developing type 1 diabetes after receiving a complete response letter in July. Hopes rest on a Type A meeting with the FDA in Q4.

The failed muscle-adding antibody could offer a superior profile in obesity by reducing body fat composition while increasing lean mass, the firm believes.

Deal Snapshot: VectivBio is expanding its existing focus on rare diseases into inherited metabolic disorders, which affect about one in 800 live births and cause significant mortality in infants and young people.

The preclinical start-up is identifying allosteric binders that can inhibit or activate metabolic proteins. Atavistik will focus on genetically defined diseases then test its candidates in broader populations.

The first clinical results from its mitochondrial derived peptide pipeline is good news for CohBar, but it needs investors or big pharma partners to help it progress.

The company’s semaglutide franchise pushed net sales for the first half of 2021 up 5% year over year at DKK66.8bn ($10.6bn), helped by double- and triple-digit growth for Ozempic and Rybelsus. 

Poxel’s shift to new therapeutic areas may be necessary despite Japan’s approval for its diabetes drug. Twymeeg looks set to be hamstrung by placebo-controlled studies without outcomes data.

After investing in the California biotech, Lilly buys the company in search of safer insulin products. The pharma sees these candidates as pairing with tirzepatide to improve diabetes therapy overall.

The company, which set a list price of $19 per day, sees awareness of diagnosing chronic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes patients as the top challenge for newly approved finerenone in the US.

Lilly outlined its tirzepatide-led pipeline of incretin agonists and highlighted its once-weekly basal insulin during a post-ADA event. The company hopes to grow the GLP-1 market overall rather than shift patients from Trulicity.

This quarter has already seen a complete response letter for Iterum Therapeutics’ antibiotic sulopenem but a raft of other products are expecting approval decisions from the US Food and Drug Administration in the next three months. With the help of analysts at Biomedtracker, Scrip takes a look at 10 of the more interesting ones.