Today, a brief rundown of news from Wave Life Sciences and Kodiak Sciences, as well as updates from Pinnacle Medicines and Pulmatrix that you may have missed.

Shares of Wave Life Sciences plummeted by more than 50% Thursday on updated early-stage study results for a drug it’s testing in obesity. When compared to a placebo, a single, 240 milligram dose of the therapy, WVE-007, led to a 14% reduction in harmful “visceral” fats and a 3% decline in waist circumference after six months. However, a higher dose didn't appear more to be more potent, and participants lost only 1% of their body weight and 5% of total fat over that timeframe, numbers that fell short of Wall Street benchmarks heading into the results. Still, some analysts rose to Wave’s defense. Leerink Partners’ Joseph Schwartz wrote that while the results “may be disappointing on the surface,” the therapy's steady impact on measures of body composition were encouraging. Those effects showcase the drug's “differentiated mechanism,” added Mizuho Securities' Salim Syed. — Ben Fidler

Kodiak Sciences will “accelerate” an approval submission after an experimental eye drug it’s been developing succeeded in a second Phase 3 trial, the company said Thursday. The therapy, Zenkuda, had previously stumbled in multiple studies in age-related vision loss. But Kodiak revived the program after promising results in one trial in diabetic retinopathy and, on Thursday, said the drug had hit its marks in a second study. Analysts at the investment bank Jefferies noted before the readout that, while Zenkuda has a “limited” market opportunity in diabetic retinopathy, the new study could boost confidence in a “new formulation” of the drug as well as a following prospect called KSI-501 that’s in late-stage testing for a form of age-related vision loss. The findings lifted Kodiak shares, which have rocketed more than sixfold over the last year, by over 50%. — Ben Fidler

Pinnacle Medicines, a biotechnology startup with a presence in China and the U.S., said Thursday it has raised $89 million in Series B funding to bring its lead candidates into clinical testing. Pinnacle is developing oral peptide drugs it hopes can deliver “biologic-level safety and efficacy,” it said in a statement. These kinds of therapies have gained traction with drugmakers in recent years as more convenient alternatives to injectable medications, and one, Johnson & Johnson and Protagonist Therapeutics’ Icotyde, gained U.S. clearance this month for psoriasis. Pinnacle has raised $134 million to date. The most recent round was co-led by LAV and Foresite Capital and involved other investors, among them OrbiMed and RA Capital Management. — Delilah Alvarado

Pulmatrix will merge with Eos Senolytix in a deal that’ll see the combined company focus on peptide drugs for age-related diseases. The new entity will keep the Eos name and trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol "EOSX.” Pulmatrix originally planned to combine with San Diego-based Cullgen, but that fell through after Cullgen opted to be bought out by Gyre Therapeutics. Following the new deal, Eos shareholders will own 94% of the combined company, with Pulmatrix stockholders owning the remainder. The biotech’s lead drug, PTC-2105, currently being tested in sarcopenia — a type of muscle loss associated with aging — and sarcopenic obesity. — Delilah Alvarado