Respiratory

The US biotech’s RSV treatment candidate has failed a Phase II study in low-risk patients leaving some experts skeptical of its hopes for potential improved performance in a high-risk setting.

The company’s emphasis on artificial intelligence has played a leading role in development of lipid nanoparticles enabling delivery of mRNA to lung tissue under a partnership with Vertex.

The family-owned German group is the market leader in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with Ofev but the big-selling drug has significant side effects and only slows, but does not stop, the progression of the disease. It is hoping that the Phase III-ready compound BI 1015550 will offer a significant improvement.

Vertex is likely to have the cystic fibrosis market to itself for years to come, but investors are banking on it repeating that success in several new first-in-class therapy areas.

Evolving challenges will keep the COVID-19 pipeline active, while oncology, immunology and CNS are areas also expected to see much progress in 2022. Industry executives look forward to the year in therapeutic R&D.

With the future of eliapixant in doubt, Shinogi's sivopixant struggling and a recent FDA rejection for Merck & Co's chronic cough drug gefapixant, Bellus Health's BLU-5937 looks to have emerged as a best-in-class agent in the P2X3 space.

Company says new asthma drug partnered with AstraZeneca will offer a new therapy option for severe patients with low eosinophil counts. The firms will provide launch plans in January.

AstraZeneca and BenevolentAI claim their partnership is augmenting and accelerating validation of new drug targets.

Having got hold of two COPD drugs from Spain's Almirall in 2014, AstraZeneca has passed Eklira and Duaklir onto old partner Covis Pharma as it focuses on more targeted respiratory therapies.

Boehringer Ingelheim, the UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium and Oxford BioMedica aim to get their CFTR gene therapy into the clinic soon, confident it could offer a long-lasting option for patients with cystic fibrosis.

Apnimed is going to conduct one more Phase II study in sleep apnea, mainly to assess subjective endpoint questionnaires, and then hopes to launch a Phase III program by autumn of 2022.

In this week's podcast edition of Five Must-Know Things: will a new oral antiviral be transformative for COVID?; OX40 drugs gain prominence in atopic dermatitis; J&J adds pace to RSV vaccine race; Sarepta leapfrogs Pfizer in DMD gene therapy; and how real-world evidence and randomized trials might go together.