A patient dies in Bristol Myers Squibb's trial of a cell treatment for multiple sclerosis, the first death among 190 people given it for immune diseases

The rest of the day

19 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   India caps mark-ups on 137 cancer drugs

   India's government will cap the mark-up that hospitals, distributors and chemists add to 137 more cancer drugs at 30%, from next month. [3] It acted after India's supreme court called the mark-ups extortion. [3] The case began with Sarojam Radhakrishnan, a retired bank clerk in Kerala who could not afford her breast-cancer drugs; she died in 2022. [3] India's drug-price body found mark-ups on some cancer drugs averaging 170%, and more than 700% in the worst cases. [3] India's government says prices will fall by up to 70%. [3]

   Why it matters — Patients are expected to save 2,500 crore rupees (about 199 million pounds) a year in a country with about 1.56 million new cancer cases a year. [3] The court has given India's government until 27 October to say why the cap covers only cancer drugs. [3]

2. 03

   Takeda's stomach-cancer drug wins a final trial

   Takeda, a Japanese drugmaker, showed final-trial results for arcotatug tavatecan at ESMO, Europe's biggest cancer meeting, in Madrid. [4] It is an antibody-drug conjugate: an antibody that carries a cell-killing drug straight to cancer cells. [4] The trial had 464 people in China and Japan with advanced stomach cancer and at least two earlier treatments. [4] Patients on the drug lived a median 10.2 months, against 6.9 months on the usual drugs. [4] One patient died suddenly of an unknown cause, and Takeda is still looking into it. [4]

   Takeda's drug10.2 months

   Usual drugs6.9 months

   Why it matters — Takeda plans to ask Japan's regulator for approval, and Innovent, the Chinese company that made the drug, has already applied in China. [4] Innovent could earn more than $10bn from Takeda if this drug and a second one succeed. [4]

3. 04

   Iza-bren slows a common breast cancer

   BMS and SystImmune said iza-bren cut the risk of the cancer growing or death by 59% against chemotherapy, in a final trial of 383 patients. [5] They had a kind of breast cancer fed by hormones, and had already had chemotherapy. [5] The cancer was held back for a median 8.2 months, against 4.0 months on chemotherapy. [5] The trial was run in China by Sichuan Biokin, SystImmune's parent company. [5]

   Iza-bren8.2 months

   Chemotherapy4 months

   Why it matters — Nobody knows yet whether iza-bren helps people live longer, because the survival numbers are not mature. [5] BMS and SystImmune develop the drug together under a licence deal. It has now shown a benefit in five final trials for five different uses. [5]

4. 05

   BMS backs Pathos with $237m

   Pathos, a New York company that uses AI to choose and steer drug trials, raised $237m in a round led by BMS. [6][8] The round values Pathos at about $3bn. [6] Pathos will pay Tempus, a health-data company, $55m over five years for records from hundreds of thousands of people with brain and nerve diseases. [6][7] For three years, only BMS may use Pathos's AI for brain-disease drugs, starting with Alzheimer's. [6][8]

   Why it matters — Pathos's chief executive says the aim is to raise the odds that a drug succeeds in its trials. [7] Its own drugs include a late-stage cancer drug licensed from Alphamab Oncology, another drug company. [7]

5. 06

   Roche pays $55m for a lab-stage lung-cancer drug

   Roche, a Swiss drugmaker, will pay Zymeworks $55m up front for ZW209, a drug in its first trial in people. [9] ZW209 grabs a cancer cell with one arm and an immune cell with two others, to switch the immune cell on harder. [9] It aims to beat Imdelltra, an Amgen drug approved in the US in 2024 for small-cell lung cancer. [9] Roche will pay $40m more when the second stage of testing starts, and up to $718m in later payments. [9]

   Why it matters — The only evidence so far comes from lab tests and from mice given human tumours. [9] Small-cell lung cancer is fast and hard to treat, and Roche already sells Tecentriq for it. [9]

6. 07

   Boehringer's lung-cancer drug holds up at lower chemo doses

   Boehringer Ingelheim, a German drugmaker, showed early results for obrixtamig, a drug that links immune cells to small-cell lung cancer cells. [12] The trial tests it together with topotecan, a chemotherapy that gave 84% of patients serious side effects in an earlier look. [12] Among 60 patients, those who got less than 80% of the planned chemo did at least as well: 72% had their tumours shrink, against 61% of those who got more. [12]

   Why it matters — The result eases a worry that patients who cannot take the full chemo dose do worse. [12] Boehringer has two final trials running, and its drug and Zymeworks's both aim to beat Amgen's Imdelltra. [12][9]

7. 08

   GSK's ovarian-cancer drug keeps working longer

   GSK, a British drugmaker, showed new early results for mo-rez, an antibody-drug conjugate, at ESMO. [11] In 45 women with ovarian cancer that no longer responds to platinum chemotherapy, 62% had their tumours shrink. [11] The cancer was held back for a median 11.1 months, against the six to eight months GSK says these patients usually get. [11] But 71% had serious side effects, mostly low blood counts. [11]

   Why it matters — GSK already runs five final trials of mo-rez, and has changed their rules on preventing low blood counts. [11] It licensed the drug from Hansoh, a Chinese company. [11]

8. 09

   A pill for ovarian cancer shows survival data

   Zentalis, a US biotech, showed results for azenosertib, a pill that stops cancer cells from pausing when their DNA is damaged, so the damage builds up until they die. [10] In 48 women whose ovarian cancer carried a protein called Cyclin E1, 37.2% had their tumours shrink. [10] They lived a median 15.9 months. [10] Single-drug chemotherapy shrinks these tumours in only 4% to 12% of women, its medical chief said. [10]

   Why it matters — Side effects were common, and 43.1% of patients needed a lower dose. [10] Two patients died of infections linked to low white blood cells, which led the FDA, the US drug regulator, to pause the drug briefly in 2024. [10] A bigger part of the trial reports in the first half of next year. [10]

9. 10

   Roche's kidney injection cuts a damage marker by 43%

   Roche gave the numbers behind a final-trial win it announced a month ago for sefaxersen, a monthly injection for IgA nephropathy. [13] That is a kidney disease in which the immune system slowly damages the kidneys' filters. [13] After 37 weeks, protein leaking into urine, a sign of kidney damage, fell by 43.1% compared with a dummy injection. [13] Roche expects yearly sales of one to two billion Swiss francs at its peak. [13]

   Why it matters — The trial now continues for two years to measure kidney function itself. [13] Novartis already sells Fabhalta, a twice-daily pill that blocks the same protein, factor B. [13]

10. 11

    China approves batoclimab for muscle weakness

    China's drug regulator approved batoclimab, a Harbour BioMed injection, for generalised myasthenia gravis. [14] That is a rare disease in which the immune system's antibodies block the signals from nerves to muscles, causing weakness. [14] In the final trial, 25.4% of patients reached minimal or no symptoms at some visit, against 4.7% on a dummy injection. [14] The most common side effect was swelling in the arms or legs, in 38.8% of patients. [14]

    Why it matters — Harbour BioMed says it is the first drug of its kind approved by China's regulator after finishing its whole clinical testing. [14] The company says the disease badly affects whether patients can work. [14]

11. 12

    Star Therapeutics raises $200m to start again

    Star Therapeutics, a US biotech, raised $200m from investors on Friday. [15] It earlier built two companies around single drugs. [15] Vega was sold to Incyte in a deal worth up to $2bn, and Electra raised $350m by selling shares to the public in September. [15] Star will now go quiet and work on early drugs for blood and immune diseases. [15]

    Why it matters — Investors are paying for the team's record before it has named a drug to show. [15] One investor, Janus Henderson, said it does not often back companies at such an early stage. [15]

12. 13

    Drugmakers join a US court fight over discounts

    A US judge let PhRMA, the drugmakers' trade group, and AbbVie, BMS and Boehringer Ingelheim join a lawsuit over a US government trial scheme. [19] The scheme, due to start on 1 January, lets drugmakers pay rebates later instead of giving discounts up front. [19] It covers medicines that hospitals buy through 340B, a US discount programme. [19] Hospitals sued this month to block the scheme. [19]

    Why it matters — The judge had earlier refused to let the drugmakers in, so they can now argue for the scheme before it starts. [19] Which side wins decides when hospitals get the money off. [19]

13. 14

    Schizophrenia trial fills its places

    Newron, a drug company near Milan in Italy, finished signing up patients for its final trial of evenamide in schizophrenia that has not responded to other drugs. [16] Of 996 people screened, 618 qualified and were given one of two doses or a dummy pill, on top of their usual drugs. [16] Evenamide is meant to calm the brain chemical glutamate when too much of it is released. [16]

    Why it matters — First results after 12 weeks are due in early 2027, and the trial runs for a year. [16]

14. 15

    A Duchenne drug is filed in South Korea

    Nxera Pharma, a Japanese drug company, has asked South Korea's drug regulator to approve vamorolone for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. [17] That is an inherited disease in which the muscles waste away. [17] Vamorolone is a new kind of steroid drug from Santhera, a Swiss company, which licensed it to Nxera in January. [17] Nxera aims for approval in 2027 and sales in 2028. [17]

    Why it matters — The filing uses a fast review route South Korea granted in June for serious and rare diseases. [17]

15. 16

    Summit hires an AI to read tumour slides

    Summit Therapeutics agreed to use Lunit's AI to study tumour tissue slides from trials of ivonescimab, its cancer drug. [18] Ivonescimab blocks two things at once: a brake on immune cells and a signal that feeds blood vessels to tumours. [18] The AI reads ordinary stained slides to map the immune cells around a tumour. [18]

    Why it matters — The companies hope the slides can show which patients are most likely to respond, so trials can pick them. [18]

16. 17

    A map of a hard bowel cancer points to old drugs

    Researchers in Ireland, London and Barcelona studied data from about 2,000 bowel tumours. [20] They focused on the most common kind, which responds poorly to newer drugs. [20] They built an AI tool to combine genes, proteins and other data on each tumour. [20] It found weak points, and in lab models trametinib, a drug already sold for melanoma, slowed tumours when combined with other drugs. [20] The paper is in the journal Cancer Cell. [20]

    Why it matters — The findings are only in lab models so far, and the team says the next step is finding who would respond. [20] Re-using approved drugs could reach patients faster than a new one. [20]

17. 18

    Congo starts a vaccine trial for its Ebola strain

    Congo began the first vaccine trial of its current Ebola outbreak on Friday, in Bunia, the main city of the province where the outbreak is centred. [21][22] The first volunteers got Ervebo, a vaccine approved against the Zaire kind of Ebola. [21] This outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo kind, which has no approved vaccine or treatment. [21][22] The trial, called Tumaini, vaccinates the people most at risk around each patient. [21] It will later add two vaccines made for Bundibugyo, one from the University of Oxford and one from Moderna. [21][22]

    Why it matters — Congo has counted more than 9,700 cases and more than 4,600 deaths since May, and the outbreak has reached Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. [21] The WHO's emergencies director said success would be the first clear proof that any vaccine protects against Bundibugyo. [22]

18. 19

    Kenya records a second Ebola death

    Kenya's health ministry said on Friday that a 65-year-old woman had died of Ebola, the country's second death. [23][24] She was a close relative of the first patient, a man who arrived from Congo and died on 5 October. [23][24] She fell ill while she was already in quarantine. [23] Seven other patients are being treated, among them three health workers and a hospital cleaner. [23] Kenya's ministry says all the cases are in one group, with no sign of spread in the wider community. [23]

    Why it matters — Nigeria's health minister said the virus in Nigeria's first case, found this week, looks closely related to the one in Kenya's first patient. [21][24] The US has warned its citizens against travelling to Kenya. [23]

19. 20

    Pakistan runs short of one insulin

    An insulin used by people with type 1 diabetes is in short supply in Pakistan, a health official told the National Assembly, its parliament, on Friday. [25] Nelson Azeem, a parliamentary secretary for health, said its German maker halted supplies while it upgrades its products. [25] Deliveries fell from 3,500 kits to 1,000 and could fall further during a year-long upgrade. [25] He said other insulins that work the same way are available, and that the shortage reaches Asia, Australia and Europe. [25]

    Why it matters — Syeda Amna Batool, a member of the assembly, said the other insulins cost at least 20% more and many patients cannot easily see a doctor to switch. [25] Officials had said on Tuesday that only one brand was missing. [25]