The week in pharma: action, reaction and insight – week to September 29, 2023

By Barbara Obstoj-Cardwell. Editor

Among important research news last week, US clinical-stage biotech Immunovant leapt 80% after it released early data on its IMVT-1402 autoimmune disease candidate. Also, Ionis Pharmaceuticals announced positive Phase III results for its investigational rare disease drug olezarsen. Troubled US biotech Intercept Pharmaceuticals has accepted an around $800 million takeover bid from Italian privately-owned drugmaker Alfasigma. Last week saw pharma major AbbVie pull out of another licensing collaboration, this time with Caribou Biosciences on two programs on allogenic CAR-T products. And, on the regulatory front, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally approved Amicus Therapeutics’ Pompe disease combination of Pombiliti plus Opfolda.

Immunovant: Top-line IMVT-1402 SAD and initial MAD data look clean