The week in pharma: action, reaction and insight – week to March 29, 2024

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell. Editor

M&A news continued last week, with US pharma major AbbVie announcing it was buying Landos Biopharma and its inflammatory diseases candidate NX-13, for up to $212,5 million. On the regulatory front, UK pharm major AstraZeneca scored a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a new indication for Ultomiris. Merck & Co won an important FDA approval for its pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) candidate Winrevair (sotatercept). 89bio received PRIME designation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its liver disease candidate pegozafermin. Also, Applied Therapeutics announced that the FDA had requested additional time to review the rare disease drug developer’s application for govorestat for the treatment of classic galactosemia.

Deal a logical expansion of AbbVie’s IBD portfolio