Welcome to the latest edition of the Life Sciences Voice Top Five Newsletter, your source for the latest news in the life sciences industry! This week, we take a look at BMS gaining approval for its Schizophrenia drug, Immunae & AstraZeneca partnering up to use AI in their cancer treatment trials, AbbVie’s promising results for its Alzheimer therapy, and other top news!
Bristol Myers Squibb’s New Schizophrenia Drug Cobenfy Approved for FDA
Cobenfy by Bristol Myers Squibb has become the first new drug to be approved by the FDA for the treatment of schizophrenia in over 70 years. About 2.9 million adults are affected by schizophrenia in the U.S., and new hope for patients who cannot tolerate current treatments may soon be on the horizon with Cobenfy. Cobenfy fights the disorder using a different mechanism than current medications which block dopamine receptors directly. The company stated that it plans to introduce a program for patients to make the drug more affordable. The drug is heading to market by the end of October.
SunRISe-2 Study Discontinued by Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson halted its phase 3 SunRISe-2 trial of a drug-device combination of TAR-200 for delivering gemcitabine to the bladder, following an interim analysis finding the combination drug-device did not have efficacy over chemoradiation. The study included 550 patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) but did not replicate the success observed in other bladder cancer trials using only non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). However, J&J still expects peak sales of more than $5 billion for its TARIS platform, with continued studies in NMIBC, and upcoming regulatory filings.
Genevant Partners with Repair Biotechnologies for Cholesterol Treatments
Repair Biotechnologies partnered with Genevant Sciences to harness Genevant’s lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology for its cholesterol-degrading mRNA therapies against atherosclerosis. Combined with Repair, this gives them the ability to use LNPs to better deliver their treatments and degrade cholesterol buildups. Its agreement with Sanofi includes up to $107 million in milestone payments and further royalties for each product developed using the technology.
Immunai teams with AstraZeneca to pioneer cancer treatment trials using AI
AstraZeneca partnered with Immunai to improve aspects of cancer immunotherapy trials using AI-driven insights from its immune-cell atlas. The goal of this collaboration is to optimize patient selection, dosing, and biomarker identification in clinical trials with the potential to speed up new cancer treatments for patients. Based on research from MIT, Harvard, and Stanford, Immunai’s technology will be critical to studying the immune system’s role in disease progression. Immunai’s partnership with both companies comes in response to Immunai’s successful funding rounds and positions the two to break new boundaries in AI for drug discovery and cancer treatment innovation.
Results From AbbVie’s Tavapadon in Parkinson’s Treatment Are Promising
AbbVie has released positive results for the company’s oral dopamine receptor agonist, Tavapadon, for treating Parkinson’s disease. Two dosages of Tavapadon (5 mg and 15 mg) were significantly superior to placebo in reducing disease burden as measured by the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS UPDRS) at Week 26 in the TEMPO-1 trial. In addition to meeting primary and secondary endpoints, the drug also increased patients’ mobility. The side effects noted in the trial were of a mild to moderate nature.
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