Today, a brief rundown of news involving AstraZeneca and SonoThera, as well as updates from Bausch + Lomb, Cartesian Therapeutics and Eli Lilly and that you may have missed.
AstraZeneca will move an experimental weight pill into an “extensive” Phase 3 development program following positive results from two mid-stage studies in obesity and diabetes, the company said Monday. The drug, elecoglipron, spurred average weight loss of about 10.5% after 26 weeks and 11.8% at 38 weeks in the obesity study. Patients with diabetes also saw their blood sugar levels decline by a mean of roughly 2% in the other trial. Both study results were presented at a medical meeting and published in The Lancet. The weight loss numbers came in “ahead of expectations” and enable AstraZeneca to make a “strong case” for using elecoglipron in drug combinations — a critical differentiation opportunity for the next wave of obesity drugs, wrote Jefferies analyst Michael Leuchten. — Ben Fidler
SonoThera has raised $125 million from more than a dozen investors to support development of genetic medicines delivered with the help of ultrasound technology. Led by Vida Ventures, the Series B funding announced Wednesday will be used to advance prospective treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. SonoThera says its approach is designed to enable precise and repeatable dosing of gene-based drugs, addressing persistent weaknesses of conventional gene therapies. It’ll begin its first clinical trial in Duchenne in 2027. — Ben Fidler
Eye health company Bausch + Lomb plans to let go of 119 employees at a Missouri site, according to a WARN notice filed Thursday. The cuts at the Kirkwood facility are expected to start on Aug. 10 and be completed by Dec. 17. The facility won’t be closed following those layoffs, however. Bausch + Lomb has been long seeking to separate itself from parent company Bausch Health, but still remains an independent subsidiary. A deal with a private equity firm last year fell through. — Delilah Alvarado
Shares of Cartesian Therapeutics climbed by double digits Tuesday after the company announced a collaboration centered around “in vivo” cell therapies. Through the deal, Cartesian will gain access to delivery tools discovered by China-based WestGene BioPharma to help make “novel” autoimmune disease treatments that reprogram cells inside the body. Cartesian didn’t provide specific financial details, but said that it intends to use specially designed lipid nanoparticles from WestGene in an early-stage study of one of its treatments in myasthenia gravis. Cartesian plans to advance multiple other in vivo cell therapy programs harnessing WestGene’s lipid nanoparticles, too. — Ben Fidler
Eli Lilly has licensed rights to a would-be medicine that Swedish biotechnology company Alzecure Pharma has been developing for Alzheimer’s disease. Lilly is paying $10 million upfront and possibly more than $1 billion overall for “alzstatin ACD680,” which slows production of a protein implicated in the buildup of toxic amyloid plaques. Alzecure’s drug does so by homing in on gamma secretase, which has long been an Alzheimer’s target multiple companies — including Lilly — have struggled with. — Ben Fidler
