Today, a brief rundown of news from Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals and Instil Bio, as well as updates from Agmen, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson that you may have missed.
Two experimental RNA medicines developed by Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals helped reduce weight and improve body composition in early testing in people with obesity, the company said Tuesday. A single dose of the first, called ARO-INHBE, helped reduce “visceral,” or harmful fat by an average of 10% and increase lean tissue by a mean of 4% after 16 weeks. Patients who received the drug alongside Eli Lilly’s Zepbound lost 9% of their body weight at 16 weeks and saw their visceral fat fall by 23% after 12 weeks. The second drug, ARO-ALK7, helped lower visceral fat by an average of 14% more than a placebo. The results show the drugs, at least so far, are “fitting the overarching goal of high-quality weight loss” without the side effect “baggage” associated with GLP-1 drugs, wrote Jefferies analyst Maury Raycroft. Arrowhead shares initially climbed by double digits before downsliding Wednesday. — Jonathan Gardner
Instil Bio has discontinued work on a dual-targeting cancer immunotherapy and terminated the underlying deal with its China-based maker, ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals. Instil didn’t say why it abandoned development of the therapy, which is one of many so-called PD-1/VEGF inhibitors in testing. But that therapy was once the centerpiece of a broad development plan for Instil, which had previously made cell therapy its focus. Instil shares lost nearly 40% of their value on the news. ImmuneOnco, meanwhile, said it remains “committed” to the drug’s development.— Ben Fidler
Amgen will work with Disco Pharmaceuticals to unearth cancer drugs that address an unspecified target Disco mapped on the surface of tumor cells, the companies said Wednesday. Per deal terms, Amgen will get rights to develop and commercialize programs that emerge from the collaboration, while Disco could receive up to $618 million plus sales royalties. The deal is the second startup-focused investment Amgen made this week, following a buyout of another oncology biotech, Dark Blue Therapeutics. — Ben Fidler
Eli Lilly has signed another pact with Nimbus Therapeutics, paying $55 million — and promising up to $1.3 billion in additional payments — to develop an oral medicine for obesity and other metabolic conditions. In a statement Tuesday, Ruth Gimeo, Lilly’s head of diabetes and metabolic disease research and development, said Nimbus’ program “represents an important addition to Lilly’s efforts to advance innovative treatment options for patients with metabolic disorders.” Nimbus and Lilly previously inked a deal to develop another drug targeting an enzyme called AMPK. — Gwendolyn Wu
Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday it plans to start a Phase 3 trial of its experimental drug nipocalimab in the most common form of lupus following positive mid-stage study results. According to J&J, nipocalimab met the study’s main objective by helping improve measures of disease control compared to a placebo after 24 weeks. J&J didn’t provide specifics, but noted that the findings mark the first successful study results for an “FcRn” blocker in lupus. Nipocalimab, which the pharma giant sells as Imaavy, was approved in April to treat generalized myasthenia gravis. The company paid $6.5 billion to acquire its original developer, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, and has said projected sales could eclipse $5 billion annually at their peak. — Delilah Alvarado
