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At this time, we’ll talk about how the U.S. authorities is cracking down on Chinese language biotechs, and the way which may have an effect on the trade stateside. Additionally, a optimistic scientific trial for Ironwood Prescribed drugs nonetheless causes a inventory stoop, and extra.
Scrutiny of Chinese language biotechs on the rise
The federal authorities and lawmakers have each been ramping up scrutiny of Chinese language biotech corporations recently. The Biden administration simply issued an government order directing federal well being officers to protect towards offering contracts and grants to corporations, together with U.S. corporations, that might result in international adversaries getting Individuals’ delicate well being information.
On Capitol Hill, in the meantime, laws would prohibit the U.S. authorities from contracting with corporations that do enterprise with Chinese language “biotechnology corporations of concern.”
A lot of the nervousness facilities on WuXi, a Chinese language firm thought-about an important associate for locating, testing, and making medicines that has labored with biopharma corporations together with as Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and GSK.
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Are biotech’s canine days over?
What’s a PIPE? And what can unseat Wegovy? We cowl all that and extra this week on “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast.
We dive into the the most recent craze on the planet of biotech finance, involving hedge funds and a few insider info, and clarify why not everybody thinks it’s such a good suggestion. We additionally talk about a banner month for biotech shares and the most recent twist in weight problems analysis.
Pay attention right here.
FogPharma raises $145 million for helicon remedy
FogPharma, a Cambridge, Mass., biotech growing remedies for most cancers, simply closed a $145 million Collection E spherical. The corporate is designing corkscrew-shaped peptides referred to as helicons that block a signaling pathway referred to as beta-catenin, which is discovered in lots of stable tumors. It’s being examined in a Section 1/2 trial, with information anticipated later this yr.
CEO Mathai Mammen, former R&D chief at Johnson & Johnson, instructed STAT that FogPharma is actively on the lookout for methods to couple its helicon remedy with immune-oncology medicine made by different corporations.
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Pfizer will concentrate on antibody medicine
Pfizer has been battling investor dissatisfaction, and is planning on tips on how to handle the Inflation Discount Act. The drug large’s inventory dropped 44% final yr because of a standstill in Covid-related income, and the specter looms of a lot of its key medicine quickly going off patent. It mentioned the combination of small molecule medicine in its most cancers portfolio will drop from 94% final yr to 35% in 2030.
So now, Pfizer’s oncology unit will focus extra intently on protein-based medicine as an alternative of small molecules, that are extra weak to generic competitors. One Pfizer exec mentioned “this deliberate shift to biologics is predicted to help the accelerated development in each the highest and backside line.”
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Regardless of good information, Ironwood’s shares plummet
Ironwood Prescribed drugs’ brief bowel syndrome drug carried out effectively in a Section 3 trial, however the firm’s shares nonetheless tanked 30%, FierceBiotech writes. That’s as a result of the outcomes didn’t persuade buyers that the drugs would beat out Takeda’s Gattex, which is already in the marketplace, or Zealand Pharma’s glepaglutide.
Ironwood purchased VectaBio final yr for $1 billion, buying apraglutide, a long-acting GLP-2 analog. It anticipated the drug to be best-in-class, however the information fell a bit brief when secondary endpoints. The corporate nonetheless intends to file for approval of apraglutide.
Extra reads
- Pharma corporations ask court docket to not break up US states’ price-fixing lawsuits, Reuters
- Novo Nordisk’s new Boston-area campus displays ‘aggressive’ R&D development, and never only for GLP-1s, Reuters
- RSV vaccines could also be linked to small elevated danger of growing Guillain-Barré syndrome, information counsel, STAT