Today, a brief rundown of news involving Avalo Therapeutics and BioNTech, as well as updates from Madrigal Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson and that you may have missed.
Avalo Therapeutics shares spiked 45% on study results showing its experimental drug might be competitive with a fast-selling treatment for the chronic inflammatory skin condition hidradenitis suppurativa. According to Avalo, low and high doses of its therapy abdakibart met the primary objective of a Phase 2 study, triggering response rates of 42.2% and 42.9%, respectively, after 16 weeks — about 17 percentage points higher than what was observed in placebo recipients. The positive findings follow clinical setbacks in hidradentitis suppurativa for Moonlake Immunotherapeutics and Insmed, both of which reported higher-than-expected placebo responses. Avalo saw a similar phenomenon, but still achieved results “in line with Bimzelx,” UCB’s marketed treatment, wrote Stifel analyst Alex Thompson. Avalo quickly cashed in on the share surge by raising $375 million and disclosing plans to move abdakibart into late-stage testing.
BioNTech is streamlining its manufacturing network, announcing in its latest earnings report plans to exit three sites in Germany and Singapore as well as all plants previously owned by CureVac, a company it acquired last year. BioNTech said the moves will affect 1,860 positions and are part of a broader cost-cutting strategy that should help it save upwards of 500 million euros, annually, starting in 2029. The savings will help BioNTech advance its cancer drug work — now the company’s main focus — towards commercialization.
Madrigal Pharmaceuticals added another prospect to its portfolio of treatments for the liver condition metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, agreeing on Tuesday to license an experimental RNA-based medicine from Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals. Madigral is paying Arrowhead $25 million upfront, and could add another $975 million in milestones should the therapy hit a variety of developmental, regulatory and sales targets. Known as ARO-PNPLA3, the drug was once part of a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson before the big drugmaker handed back rights in 2023. It’s now being positioned as a therapy for people with a particular genetic mutation that’s highly prevalent among Hispanic patients with MASH.
An experimental, double-barreled antibody from J&J missed its main objective in a pair of studies in inflammatory bowel disease, but will still head to late-stage testing. J&J’s drug JNJ-4804 simultaneously targets IL-23 and TNF-α, two known disease drivers and the targets of its medications Tremfya and Simponi. The drug was associated with higher remission rates than Simponi or Tremfya in the two studies, though the difference wasn’t statistically significant. Still, J&J pointed to particularly promising outcomes in people who haven’t responded to one or two therapies, and is launching Phase 3 trials in people with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. It’s not alone; others are pursuing similar two-pronged approaches.
