Industry News

Merck announced that a Phase 3 study (VERTIS SITA2) of ertugliflozin, an investigational oral SGLT2 inhibitor for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes, met its primary endpoint. Both 5 mg and 15 mg daily doses of ertugliflozin showed significantly greater reductions in A1C* of 0.69 percent and 0.76 percent, respectively, compared with placebo (p<0.001, for both comparisons), when added to patients on a background of sitagliptin (100 mg/day) and stable metformin (≥1500 mg/day). These study results were presented for the first time during an oral session at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Munich, Germany.

BioXcel, a privately held biopharmaceutical company based in Connecticut, announced that the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation to BXCL101 for the treatment of Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2), an orphan disease with significant unmet medical need. BXCL101 is the first and only systemic therapy being developed to eliminate existing lesions and prevent the formation of new lesions by targeting the molecular mechanism of NF2 pathophysiology.

Akari Therapeutics announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted to Akari an Orphan Drug Designation for recombinant protein inhibitor of complement factor 5 for the treatment of Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH). Coversin, Akari’s lead clinical product, which falls within the Orphan Drug Designation, is a second-generation complement inhibitor that acts on complement component-C5, preventing release of C5a and formation of C5b-9 (also known as the membrane attack complex or MAC).

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 A new study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) shows that "holes" in HIV's defensive sugar shield could be important in designing an HIV vaccine.

Sanofi  and Verily Life Sciences LLC, (formerly Google Life Sciences), an Alphabet company, today announced the launch of Onduo, a joint venture created through Sanofi and Verily’s diabetes-focused collaboration. The joint venture is based in Kendall Square in Cambridge.  Onduo’s mission is to help people with diabetes live full, healthy lives by developing comprehensive solutions that combine devices, software, medicine, and professional care to enable simple and intelligent disease management.

Boehringer Ingelheim announced that the European Commission (EC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have granted Orphan Drug Designation to nintedanib for the treatment of systemic sclerosis (SSc, also known as scleroderma), including the associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD).

Novartis introduces a novel in office point of care diagnostic tool - the Niji System and Total IgE Test. This first test delivers quantitative total IgE (Immunoglobulin E) levels in about 12 minutes using only one to two droplets of finger stick blood, allowing for quick in-office diagnosis of IgE-mediated allergic disorders in conjunction with other clinical findings.

Results from a new post-hoc analysis of two large phase III trials (LUX-Lung 3 and LUX-Lung 6) assessing the impact of dose adjustments for Giotrif (afatinib) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were published in Annals of Oncology. The analysis suggests specific dose reductions, as described in SmPC / prescribing information, led to decreases in the incidence and severity of treatment-related adverse events (AEs) in afatinib-treated patients without any apparent compromise in efficacy.