Check out this article for the impacts that Biotech Bay companies are experiencing due to COVID-19.
Much of the news has been focused on the novel coronavirus and the rush to develop vaccines and treatments for the disease it causes (called COVID-19). But what is happening with all the other companies not directly involved in COVID-19 research? And how is COVID-19 affecting their clinical trials and drug supplies?
To answer these questions, BioSpace looked at COVID-19’s impact on each of the Hotbeds.
Biotech Bay
, the bustling biotech industry around San Francisco in California, is home to lots of biopharma companies, many of whom are trying to keep business as close to usual while adapting to these unique times.
Check out the table below for the impacts that Biotech Bay companies are experiencing due to COVID-19.
(For information about what Biotech Bay companies have joined the fight against COVID-19 and how they are working towards vaccines and treatments,
check out this article
.)
The information in this table was up to date as of May 18, 2020.
4D Molecular Therapeutics
Disease Focus:
“Creating and developing optimized ‘biopharmaceutical grade’ AAV vectors”
for gene therapy for rare diseases
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
(None reported)
Latest company press release:
“4D Molecular Therapeutics Announces Upcoming Oral and Poster Presentations at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Allakos, Inc.
Disease Focus:
“Developing therapeutic antibodies targeting allergic, inflammatory, and proliferative diseases”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Latest company press release:
“
Allakos Announces a Presentation of Antolimab in Patients with Severe Allergic Conjunctivitis at the 2020 ASCRS Virtual Annual Meeting”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Ambys Medicines
Disease Focus:
Creating
“liver regenerative medicine”
for liver disease
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
No recent press releases
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Apollomics, Inc.
Disease Focus:
“Discovery and development of oncology combination therapies”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported, despite trials ongoing in China
Latest company press release:
“GlycoMimetics and Apollomics Announce Exclusive Collaboration and License Agreement to Develop and Commercialize Uproleselan and GMI-1687 in Greater China”
Arcus Biosciences
Disease Focus:
An
“oncology-focused biotechnology company
”
developing drugs that “target the adenosine axis, which has been shown to play a significant role in driving immune-suppression in the tumor micro-environment.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“Despite the ongoing situation with COVID-19, we continue to see relatively robust enrollment across our ongoing Arcus-sponsored studies at this time. Similar to other biotech and pharmaceutical companies, we believe this pandemic may ultimately cause delays in some of our clinical programs as well as delays initiating new studies and/or new clinical sites. However, the timing of any delays and overall impact will be difficult to determine until we have more visibility on the length of the crisis and the potential institution of additional public health orders.” –
Company press release
“We remain on track to generate preliminary Phase Ib expansion data in mid-2020 and randomized data starting in the fourth quarter of 2020, respectively, that will inform the advancement of our regulatory strategy.” –
Terry Rosen, PhD, CEO
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“With respect to manufacturing, we currently have sufficient drug supply for our ongoing clinical studies. At this time and subject to further COVID-19 implications, we do not anticipate any disruptions to our drug supply chain.” –
Company press release
Assembly Biosciences
Disease Focus:
Finding a cure for Hep B and
“advancing a microbiome portfolio of live biotherapeutics”
for “a broad range of tough-to-treat conditions”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“We have managed to achieve our key business objectives while keeping the health and safety of patients, study staff, and employees top of mind, and continuing to assess and adapt to this environment. Importantly, we have finalized the stopping criteria by which patients with chronic HBV infection in Study 211 will be transitioned off combination therapy with our core inhibitor candidate ABI-H0731 and a nucleos(t)ide therapy later this year. This is a critical next step in the development of hepatitis B therapies, as ours would be the first trial of a core inhibitor to stop therapy and monitor patients for potential sustained virologic response.” –
John McHutchison, AO, MD, CEO and President
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.
Disease Focus:
Developing
“innovative biopharmaceuticals for rare diseases driven by genetic causes”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Company press release:
“BioMarin to Participate in Two Upcoming Virtual Investor Conferences”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
BridgeBio
Disease Focus:
“To find, develop, and deliver breakthrough medicines for genetic diseases to patients as quickly and safely as possible.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“We are doing our absolute best to minimize any delays, but we know that right now health care institutions and doctors around the world have shifted their focus to emergent COVID-19 cases. Many hospitals and physicians have postponed elective medical procedures and delayed the start of new clinical trials. … There will inevitably be delays and we don’t know what the future holds, but we will not stop working as fast as we possibly and safely can for patients.” –
CEO Neil Kumar
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
DNA Script
Disease Focus:
“Bringing [DNA] oligo production back to the lab with the world’s first enzymatic DNA printer”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Latest company blog article:
“Testing Challenges With COVID-19: Why DNA Synthesis Is Critical.”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Eurofins DiscoverX
Disease Focus:
“Product solutions provider that can accelerate your programs with confidence with qualified reagents, cell lines, and assays”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Eurofins COVID-19 Response
includes clinical PCR testing kits, serology antibodies testing kits, and PPE product testing.
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Exelixis, Inc.
Disease Focus:
“Oncology-focused biotechnology company that strives to accelerate the discovery, development and commercialization of new medicines for difficult-to-treat cancers”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“We have ongoing investigational studies at clinical trial sites across the globe. We are monitoring how COVID-19 may impact this research.” –
Company statement
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“We do not expect there to be an impact on the availability of either of our commercial products (CABOMETYX
®
and COMETRIQ
®
) as we maintain a substantial amount of stock throughout our broad and diverse supply chain.” –
Company statement
FibroGen
Disease Focus:
“Create first-in-class medicines to treat chronic and life-threatening conditions such as anemia, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and pancreatic cancer”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“We continue to be focused on our goals to ensure the regulatory and commercial success of roxadustat, a potentially transformational oral medicine in patients with anemia on chronic kidney disease; accelerate pamrevlumab in the indications of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, locally advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy; and advance innovation of our hypoxia-inducible factor and connective tissue growth factor platforms.” –
CEO Enrique Conterno
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“As China comes back on line, we are continuing manufacturing operations and launch efforts. We have ample drug supply to support the roxadustat launches and clinical trials in additional indications, as well as the pamrevlumab trials.” –
CEO Enrique Conterno
Global Blood Therapeutics
Disease Focus:
“Committed to improving the care of people living with sickle cell disease.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
“GBT is temporarily suspending its field team from all in-person interactions, including visits to physician offices, clinics and hospitals as well as in-person meetings with payers. This temporary suspension will be in place until April 7, 2020, at which time GBT will reevaluate the situation. The company will continue to provide and scale up digital and internet-based education and outreach to healthcare professionals and payers.” –
Company press release
“COVID-19 Information and Resources”
“GBT Commits $250,000 to Support the Sickle Cell Disease Community During COVID-19 Pandemic”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“GBT Source™, the company’s support program for those prescribed Oxbryta, is fully functional and remains available to assist with new enrollments, reimbursement, financial and copay support, and adherence and refill support. In addition, GBT believes it currently has sufficient supply of Oxbryta to sustain patient need through the remainder of the year and into 2021.” –
Company press release
Horizon Therapeutics
Disease Focus:
“Tackle many marginalized, overlooked or forgotten diseases”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“Our trials are currently ongoing and patients who have any questions should reach out directly to their treating physician. For the safety of our patients, healthcare professionals and our employees, we will provide support to physicians, patients and partners
virtually
through at least
May 30
. We will continue to monitor and assess information to determine if virtual support will be necessary for a longer period.” –
Company update
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“At this time, we expect no impact on the supply of our medicines. We continue to closely monitor our supply chain and will provide updates as necessary. We expect all of our patient services and financial support programs will continue to be available without interruption.” –
Company update
Intabio
Disease Focus:
“Developing analytical solutions to transform biotherapeutic development and manufacturing.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Latest press release:
“Intabio announces new website and digital marketing strategy to support Blaze™ system commercial launch.”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Iovance Biotherapeutics
Disease Focus:
“Development and commercialization of autologous cellular immunotherapies optimizing personalized, tumor-directed Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL).”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“While COVID-19 has impacted healthcare systems globally, we have been able to continue our key business operations due to dedication from our employees and through close collaboration with our clinical sites and other business partners.” –
CEO Maria Fardis, Ph.D., MBA
“Enrollment in the cervical study C-145-04 continues and completion of enrollment in the pivotal program is on track for approximately mid-2020.” –
Company press release
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“Manufacturing at all manufacturing organizations continues as planned for ongoing clinical studies.” –
Company press release
JOINN Biologics
Disease Focus:
“CMO company that is committed to the advancement of biopharmaceutics through its premier contract development and manufacturing services for biologics and advanced therapies.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Maze Therapeutics
Disease Focus:
“By bringing together human genetics and functional genomics into a platform driven by scientific pioneers and experienced company builders, we will develop new medicines that change the course”
of neurological, metabolic, renal, and oncological diseases.
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Latest press release:
“Maze Therapeutics Appoints City Hill Founder, Jonathan Lim, M.D., to its Board of Directors”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
MyoKardia
Disease Focus:
“Pioneering a precision medicine approach to treating cardiomyopathies and other forms of heart failure.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“All efforts will be made to allow patients to continue in ongoing mavacamten studies, including the MAVA-LTE long-term extension and the PIONEER open-label extension (OLE) studies. MyoKardia has temporarily suspended the rollover of patients from EXPLORER into the MAVA-LTE and plans to resume enrollment when conditions permit. The company has also paused the enrollment of healthy volunteers in the Phase I clinical trial evaluating MYK-224. Studies that were planned to initiate in the second quarter of 2020 will be delayed until conditions change, including the VALOR-HCM Phase III clinical study of mavacamten as an alternative to septal reduction therapy (SRT) procedures, the Phase II proof-of-concept study for mavacamten in subgroups of patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and the Phase II study of danicamtiv in patients with genetic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).” –
Company press release
Recent press release:
“MyoKardia Announces Primary and All Secondary Endpoints Met in Phase III EXPLORER Clinical Trial of Mavacamten for the Treatment of Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Nektar Therapeutics
Disease Focus:
“Areas of unmet need”
such as cancer and autoimmune diseases
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“For all ongoing clinical trials, we are working closely with clinical trial sites to understand their needs during this time. We are utilizing remote monitoring when possible to oversee study conduct. We have adopted processes to allow for telemedicine and closer access to patient care where and when appropriate so we can continue all data collection processes and support patient safety.
The majority of Nektar-run clinical studies in oncology have not experienced any significant delays. We caution that the evolving landscape could impact these statements and could still delay late-stage studies or enrollment of new patients into clinical trials in the future. We currently believe that we could experience delays of approximately three months with respect to previously-provided timelines for earlier stage Nektar-run studies, such as the PROPEL study, where the initiation of planned new investigator sites in Europe was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” –
Howard Robin, President & CEO
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“At this time, we do not anticipate any supply interruptions for manufacturing, including our preparations for scale-up of commercial supply of bempegaldesleukin, which are underway. The company has sufficient quantities of bempegaldesleukin, NKTR-262, NKTR-255 and NKTR-358 to supply the ongoing clinical programs for these investigational medicines. We and our manufacturing partners are continuing to regularly assess the situation.” –
Howard Robin, President & CEO
Neurona Therapeutics
Disease Focus:
“A cell therapy company driven by rigorous scientific discovery and focused on the development of breakthrough treatments for neurological disorders.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Latest press release:
“
Neurona Therapeutics awarded a $4.8M translational grant from CIRM to advance epilepsy program to the pre-IND stage
”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Nkarta
Disease Focus:
“Improve upon the efficacy of cell therapy, making it more potent, better tolerated and more rapidly available to a broad population of patients with a variety of hematologic and solid tumor malignancies.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Latest press release:
“Nkarta Therapeutics Appoints Two New Independent Directors”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Nurix
Disease Focus:
“Developing drugs to treat cancer including novel, small molecule immuno-oncology agents.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Latest press release:
“Nurix Therapeutics Closes $120 Million Financing To Advance Targeted Protein Modulation Drug Pipeline”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Orchard Therapeutics
Disease Focus:
“
Ex vivo
autologous gene therapy”
for rare diseases
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Recent press release:
“Orchard Therapeutics Unveils New Strategic Plan and Reports First Quarter 2020 Financial Results”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
PACT Pharma
Disease Focus:
“Personalized Adoptive Cell Therapies, NeoAntigen-Targeted T Cells Against Cancer”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Latest press release:
“Pact makes case for neoantigen-specific TCRs from patient blood”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Pharmacyclics
(an AbbVie Company)
Disease Focus:
“
Small-molecule medicines
for the treatment of cancers and immune-mediated diseases for which there is great unmet medical need”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“The safety and efficacy of BTK inhibitors, like IMBRUVICA, have not been established for the treatment of COVID-19. We remain open to collaborating with governments, academic institutions and healthcare professionals to support the collection of data and evidence generation that explores potential treatment options for people affected by COVID-19.” –
Company press release
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“Currently, there is no impact to the supply of IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib). We continue to closely manage manufacturing and supply chain resources within and outside the United States, which are subject to robust quality testing to help ensure patients continue to receive an uninterrupted supply of IMBRUVICA.” –
Company press release
Portola Pharmaceuticals
Disease Focus:
“Develop ground-breaking medicines for life-threatening, blood-related disorders.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“Effective March 13, we suspended face-to-face field activity and instituted a mandatory work from home policy for all employees, including those in our South San Francisco and European headquarters. Our plan to present and publish data throughout the year remains intact.” –
Company press release
Recent press release:
“Portola Pharmaceuticals Reports First Quarter 2020 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“While the coronavirus pandemic has led to suspended activities and business around the world, it will not stop patients who take rivaroxaban or apixaban from experiencing life-threatening bleeds. It is important that we are able to continue to supply hospitals with Andexxa. We have adequate supply of this important medicine on-hand for the next couple of years in the United States and Europe. At this time, the global Andexxa supply chain and distribution structure is intact for customers to continue to use and re-order Andexxa.” –
Company press release
Principia Biopharma
Disease Focus:
“Developing novel therapies for serious immune mediated diseases.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“In considering the current impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Principia is not changing previously communicated guidance except in the case of its Phase II trial of rilzabrutinib in patients with IgG4-RD, which now will begin in the second half of 2020 rather than the first half as originally planned.” –
Company press release
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“We commenced our COVID-19 preparations at the end of January, and we continue to work with our clinical trial sites and third party manufacturers to maintain momentum of our trials and to provide study drug supply to our sites and patients.” –
Company statement
Pulse Biosciences
Disease Focus:
“A novel bioelectric medicine company committed to health innovation that has the potential to improve and extend the lives of patients”
to “treat a variety of applications for which an optimal solution remains unfulfilled.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“Our operations in the first quarter of 2020 experienced minimal impacts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Product development and regulatory timelines have not been materially affected at this point but due to the uncertain scope and duration of the pandemic, we cannot reasonably estimate the future impact to our operations and financial results.” –
Company press release
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Revance Therapeutics
Disease Focus:
“Innovative aesthetic and therapeutic offerings”
for muscle movement and pain disorders
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“JUNIPER Phase II trial for adult upper limb spasticity paused due to challenges in subject assessments during time of required social distancing.
Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date for DaxibotulinumtoxinA for Injection (DAXI) in glabellar lines of Nov 25, 2020.
ASPEN-1 Phase III trial in cervical dystonia and Phase II trial in plantar fasciitis remain on track to read out in 2H of 2020
.
” –
Company press release
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“As Revance is U.S. based and manufactures its drug substance and drug product in Newark, CA, the company does not anticipate any supply chain issues related to the production of DAXI and expects to have drug product on time for commercial launch, subject to product approval.
Launch of Resilient Hyaluronic Acid® (RHA®) fillers, and associated hiring of 100 field representatives, pushed back one quarter due to COVID-19 situation and temporary closure of Teoxane’s Swiss manufacturing facility.” –
Company press release
Santen Pharmaceutical Co.
Disease Focus:
Ophthalmic conditions and eye diseases
, such as glaucoma and dry eye
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
“Discussions with regulatory authorities on how to achieve safety while continuing to conduct clinical trials and applications.” –
Company press release
How the company is helping patients:
“Santen, Together with Nonprofit Organization, Japan Blind Football Association, to Support People with Visual Impairments Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
“Our foremost priority is the continued delivery of treatments for visual conditions to our patients worldwide.” –
Company website
Senti Biosciences
Disease Focus:
“
A next generation therapeutics company driven to create medicines that are programmable, controllable and designed to tackle even the most challenging diseases
.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
Latest press release:
“Senti Biosciences to Present on Gene Circuit-Based Therapies at the 2020 ASGCT Annual Meeting”
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
None reported
UNITY Biotechnology
Disease Focus:
“Developing medicines that potentially halt, slow or reverse age-associated diseases, while restoring human health.”
Clinical Trial Impacts of COVID-19:
“We completed enrollment of both our Phase II and Phase Ib studies in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. This progress is particularly noteworthy given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical trial landscape.” –
CEO Anirvan Ghosh
“UNITY’s clinical and regulatory teams remain active and are working closely with its investigators in its ongoing clinical studies of UBX0101 to adapt to the current environment and ensure the studies remain on-track.” –
Company press release
Drug Supply Impacts of COVID-19:
“UNITY has sufficient supply of UBX0101 for all ongoing clinical studies.” –
Company press release
