Latest from Joseph Haas
Nine biopharma companies made 12 or more deals, with Novartis inking 21 deals and leading M&A activity. Roche, meanwhile, spent little up front but maintained a hectic pace with 12 alliances.
Plus deals involving Novartis with Vyriad, Ratio and Schrödinger; Pharmanovia/Lindis, Pulmatrix/Cullgen, Entero/Journey, Roche/Flare and AlloVir/Kalaris.
Plus deals involving Zai Lab/Pfizer, Laekna/Lilly, Takeda/Alloy, Lunit/AstraZeneca, VelaVigo/Avenzo, Biosion/Aclaris, HCW/WY Biotech, Celltrion/iQone and Kaken/Numab.
Boston Pharma may be rising in the FGF21 space, while Viking could be formidable competition for Madrigal in the THRβ agonist class. Akero will soon report potentially groundbreaking data in cirrhotic NASH.
The firm revealed that an analysis of its Phase III ESSENCE trial combining fibrosis reduction and NASH resolution showed a higher effect over placebo than in Madrigal’s pivotal trial.
Following Phase III safety and cash problems, Inventiva has its eye on lanifibranor becoming the second oral agent approved in NASH. Former Intercept CEO Mark Pruzanski is advising the effort.