Biotech, in brief

Bristol Myers Squibb, one of the biggest US drugmakers, said on Monday that its drug admilparant passed a final-stage trial in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. [1][2]

In that disease the lungs slowly scar, and the scarring causes a loss of breathing that cannot be undone. [5]

Over a year, the drug slowed the fall in forced vital capacity, the amount of air a person can blow out in one go, compared with a dummy drug. [1]

Only the 60 mg dose did this clearly. At 120 mg the effect was too small to rule out chance. [1][2]

Doctors and regulators usually look for a bigger dose to work at least as well, so an analyst at RBC Capital Markets called the result confounding. [1]

Bristol Myers has not shown the numbers yet. It says it will talk to regulators about asking for approval. [2]

Last month the company changed how the trial watched for liver harm in Europe. [1] Its statement on Monday said the drug was well tolerated and did not mention the liver. [1][2]

Its shares rose more than 6% before trading opened, then fell to a loss of about 4%. [1] Contineum Therapeutics, which tests another drug of the same kind, fell about 30%. [1]

Drugs already sold for the disease, such as Ofev and Esbriet, slow the decline, and each has limits. [1][4] Endeavor BioMedicines says its experimental drug may reverse the scarring. [4]

The same day, Bristol Myers said RYZ101, a radioactive cancer drug, kept tumours from growing for longer than standard treatments in a final-stage trial. [2][3]

The trial was in rare tumours of the gut and pancreas that had grown again after radioactive drugs such as Lutathera, from Novartis. [2][3]

RYZ101 carries actinium-225, which gives off alpha particles, a short-range radiation that breaks the DNA of cancer cells. [3]

Eliquis and Opdivo bring in more than half of Bristol Myers' sales, and both could lose their US protection from cheaper copies in 2028. [2]

Why it matters. The next test is the full data: how large the 60 mg benefit is, and what the liver results show, will decide how regulators read a win that came from the smaller dose. [1][2]

Merck, a large US drugmaker, showed the full results of its eye drug remigromig at a meeting of eye doctors this weekend. [8] The drug is for diabetic macular edema, a leak of fluid at the back of the eye in people with diabetes, and Merck paid $1.3 billion up front in 2024 for the company that made it. [8] Last month Merck said it worked no worse than Lucentis, an older injection. [8] After a year, patients gained 9.1 and 8.7 letters on an eye chart, against 11.8 on Lucentis. [8]

Why it matters. New fragile blood vessels, a diabetes eye complication, appeared in 6.7% and 6.1% of patients on remigromig, against 0.9% on Lucentis. [7][8] Analysts at BMO said the drug looks weaker and less safe than Lucentis, while Merck says 30% to 40% of these patients are not helped enough today. [8]

Amgen and AstraZeneca, two large drugmakers, said their drug Tezspire worked in a final-stage trial in eosinophilic esophagitis. [7] That is an immune disease of the food pipe, the tube that carries food to the stomach. [7] Nearly 70% of patients on the highest dose were in remission after 24 weeks, against 3.5% on a dummy drug. [7] Fuller results are due at a medical meeting on Wednesday. [7]

Why it matters. The figure is higher than Dupixent, the only other antibody drug approved for the disease, showed in its own trials. [7] That comparison is across separate trials, which BioPharma Dive notes can mislead, and today's lesson explains why. [7]

The FDA, the US drug regulator, has approved Zanvastro, the first medicine aimed at the cause of Alexander disease, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced. [9] The disease affects fewer than one in a million people and slowly damages the nervous system, harming movement, speech and swallowing. [9] It is caused by faults in the gene for GFAP, a protein in the brain's support cells, which then builds up in harmful clumps. [9] Zanvastro, developed with Ionis Pharmaceuticals, cuts how much GFAP cells make. [9]

Why it matters. In a trial of 54 patients, those treated for just over a year walked faster than those who were not. [9] The drug is injected into the spine every three months, and the approval covers everyone from babies to adults. [9]

First Tracks Biotherapeutics, a US company, said its drug ANB033 protected the gut of people with celiac disease in an early trial. [10] In celiac disease, eating gluten, a protein in wheat, makes the immune system attack the small intestine. [10] 32 people took the drug or a dummy for four weeks, then ate gluten equal to about two slices of bread a day for two weeks. [10] The drug beat the dummy on three measures of gut damage, with no serious side effects. [10]

Why it matters. No medicine is approved for celiac disease, so a strict diet is the only treatment. [10] Argenx and Teva are testing rival drugs of the same family, and First Tracks plans a final-stage trial in 2027. [10][11]

Kenya's health ministry said on Sunday it has found no new Ebola cases since its first patient died in Nairobi on 5 October. [12] The 40-year-old man had tested positive in Congo, where an Ebola outbreak was declared in May, and then travelled to Kenya. [12] Tests on 293 samples were all negative. [12] 108 of the 122 people on his contact list are in quarantine and have no symptoms. [12]

Why it matters. Congo has recorded 8,978 cases and 4,336 deaths in this outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain, which has no treatment or vaccine. [12] Africa's public health agency calls Kenya's case imported, not an outbreak. [12]

Roche, the Swiss drugmaker, said the FDA has accepted its request to approve vamikibart, with a decision due by July 2027. [13] The drug is injected into the eye to treat uveitic macular edema, a swelling at the back of the eye caused by inflammation. [13] Roche ran two final-stage trials designed to be identical, and last year one met its main goal while the other did not. [13] New one-year data showed lasting gains in sight, and about two-thirds of patients needed no repeat injection after week 16. [13]

Why it matters. About 20% of people with this condition go on to lasting blindness within three years. [13] Today they are treated with steroids and with drugs used outside their approval, and steroids in the eye bring risks such as glaucoma and cataracts. [13]

Tortugas Neuroscience, a US start-up, said its schizophrenia drug obuprazine passed a mid-stage trial run in China by Hansoh Pharma, the Chinese company it licensed the drug from. [14] The trial gave 363 adults recently in hospital with schizophrenia one of five doses, an older drug called aripiprazole, or a dummy. [14] Every dose cut symptoms more than the dummy after six weeks. [14] The best group improved 16.7 points more than the dummy group on a standard symptom scale. [14]

Why it matters. Slightly fewer people stopped taking obuprazine than stopped the dummy, 2.1% against 2.5%. [14] Tortugas now wants FDA permission to test it in the US. [14] So far every patient in the trial was in China. [14]

More than $500 billion of drug sales worldwide could face cheaper copies between 2026 and 2032, forecasts from the data firm Evaluate show. [6] When a drug's patent ends, rivals can sell cheaper copies of it. [6] The worst single year is 2031, with $158 billion at risk. [6] In 2028, $99 billion is at risk as Merck's cancer drug Keytruda loses protection. [6]

Why it matters. Drugmakers facing these gaps are buying other companies: Merck has spent $30.9 billion on six deals since the start of 2024, and Eli Lilly $27.2 billion on nine. [6] Bristol Myers' two trial wins today answer the same pressure on its own best sellers. [2]

Aspen Neuroscience, a San Diego company, filed on 9 October to list its shares on the Nasdaq stock market. [15] It turns a patient's own skin cells into stem cells, grows them into nerve cells that make dopamine and implants them in the brain. [15] Parkinson's disease destroys the cells that make dopamine, a chemical the brain needs for smooth movement. [15] Making one patient's treatment takes about four months, and the therapy is entering its final stage of testing. [15]

Why it matters. Aspen wrote that its cash will not last another year and that there is substantial doubt it can keep operating. [15] Bambusa Therapeutics, which is testing an antibody drug for eczema, filed for a listing the same day. [16]

Bausch + Lomb, a large eye-care company, said Brent Saunders is leaving as chief executive with immediate effect. [7] Its board chair, Thomas Appio, who has worked there since 2010, takes over for now. [7] Saunders had run and sold several drug companies before he joined in 2023. [7] On the same day the company raised its profit forecast for 2026. [7]

Why it matters. An analyst at Leerink Partners called the exit unexpected but said the business is doing well. [7] The company said the board and Saunders mutually agreed on his exit. [7]

Lab and factory space for biotech companies in Massachusetts was 31.1% empty by mid-2026, eleven times the rate at the end of 2021, figures from the trade group MassBio show. [17] Builders around Boston, a centre of the biotech industry, put up labs without tenants after the pandemic, expecting demand to keep rising. [17] Such space grew from 21.5 million square feet in 2015 to more than 60 million by 2023. [17] One 15-storey building in Somerville has stood empty since 2024. [17]

Why it matters. Investment fell while new buildings kept opening. [17] Landlords are now offering the labs to robotics and electronics firms, and one property group calls the slump a reset. [17]

Surgeons told Welsh politicians that the specialist endometriosis centres in Wales are at risk and that a national service is needed. [18] Endometriosis is a painful disease that affects about one in ten women. [18] Cardiff and Vale health board put its centre on its risk register, because it may fail new rules from the body that accredits such centres. [18] One patient, Kelly O'Shea, woke from operations to find the surgery had not been done, and paid 20,000 pounds for private treatment. [18]

Why it matters. If centres lose accreditation, women with the most complex cases would be sent to England, at a higher cost to the Welsh health service. [18] Wales's deputy minister for women's health said the current set-up is not sustainable. [18]

Northern Ireland's Commissioner for Older People, Siobhan Casey, said its government is planning for a population from a previous era. [19] The number of people over 65 is projected to rise by almost 45% in 25 years, while the whole population falls slightly. [19] By mid-2049 there would be 366 pensioners for every 1,000 people of working age, up from 269 in 2024. [19] Northern Ireland's Programme for Government, its main plan, mentions an ageing population only once. [19]

Why it matters. Fewer workers for each pensioner means less tax to pay for health care and pensions, and those are set by the UK government, not Northern Ireland's. [19] Casey says housing, transport and workplaces will feel it too, not only hospitals. [19]