Today, a brief rundown of news from Novo Nordisk and Palvella Therapeutics, as well as updates from Gossamer Bio, Vanda Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer that you may have missed.
Novo Nordisk on Tuesday announced plans to lower the U.S. list prices of its diabetes and obesity drugs by as much as 50% starting next year. According to Novo, Wegovy and Ozempic’s wholesale acquisition cost will be $675 per month effective Jan. 1, 2027 — reductions of 50% and 35%, respectively, from their current prices. The cuts apply to all doses and also include Rybelsus, an oral medication Novo sells for diabetes. They don’t affect the costs involved when people bypass insurance and pay for Novo’s drugs in cash. — Ben Fidler
Shares of Palvella Therapeutics climbed by nearly 40% Tuesday on positive Phase 3 study results in people with vascular abnormalities known as microcystic lymphatic malformations. Palvella said treatment with its therapy, a type of topical rapamycin gel, hit all main and key secondary goals and will be submitted to U.S. regulators this year. The data could position Palvella’s drug as the first approved for the condition, and “easily tops most expectations,” wrote Mizuho Securities analyst Graig Suvannavejh. The findings also suggest the therapy could be viable in treating other vascular malformations, leaving “significant value still waiting to be unlocked,” he added. — Ben Fidler
San Diego-based drugmaker Gossamer Bio lost more than 80% of its market value Monday after disclosing its sole clinical program failed a late-stage study. Gossamer, in collaboration with Chiesi Group, has been developing an experimental medicine called seralutinib across a couple lung diseases. Fresh results from a study focused on pulmonary arterial hypertension showed that, statistically, the medicine was not significantly better than a placebo on a test that evaluates lung capacity and cardiovascular health. Faheem Hasnain, Gossamer’s CEO, noted that this measure was “narrowly missed,” and the overall data “clearly demonstrate seralutinib is an active drug in patients with PAH.” The company therefore believes further discussions with the Food and Drug Administration regarding a potential path forward are warranted. — Jacob Bell
The FDA late last week approved a new atypical antipsychotic from Vanda Pharmaceuticals. Now sold as Bysanti, the medication works by inhibiting certain receptor proteins that interact with neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine and adrenaline. In the body, Bysanti breaks down into a molecule known as iloperidone, which is also the active ingredient in Vanda’s already marketed therapy Fanapt. The FDA specifically approved the newer product for schizophrenia and for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder. Vanda said it expects Bysanti to become commercially available sometime between July and the end of September. — Jacob Bell
Pfizer will pay as much as $495 million for partial ownership of an injectable obesity medicine developed by Hangzhou, China-based Sciwind Biosciences. The deal announced Wednesday hands Pfizer exclusive commercialization rights in China to the therapy, which is known as ecnoglutide and already approved in the country for Type 2 diabetes. An approval application for weight management has also been accepted by China’s drug regulator. Pfizer has been using dealmaking to acquire obesity assets. Last year, it paid $10 billion to nab Metsera and inked a potentially $2 billion licensing deal with YaoPharma. — Ben Fidler
