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AstraZeneca has terminated all development of vemircopan, the oral factor D inhibitor it acquired through the deal for Alexion in 2021. The UK major recorded an impairment charge of $753 million as a result, according to 2024 earnings that were reported on Thursday. Development of vemircopan for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria was halted in November 2023, but now the drug is being abandoned completely. A Phase 2 trial in lupus nephritis or IgA nephropathy, and an early-stage trial in impaired hepatic function, have also been discontinued for lack of efficacy. Marc Dunoyer, the CEO of AstraZeneca’s rare disease unit, said it “is not immune to the odds of the industry, where not all of the pioneering work that you do is going to work.” He added that the decision to drop vemircopan was based on standard criteria, namely its benefits and risks, as well as the competitive situation. Despite the loss, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told reporters at a London event: “I can say with no hesitation, the Alexion acquisition was a fantastic acquisition.” AstraZeneca also took a $165 million impairment on FPI-2059, a Phase 1-stage radioligand that was scrapped. The drug was part of last year’s purchase of Fusion Pharmaceuticals. FPI-2059 is a lutetium-labeled small molecule targeting neurotensin receptor 1 which Alexion itself licensed from Ipsen in 2021. Other radioligands remain in development. AstraZeneca’s lead radioconjugate, FPI-2265, is a beta-emitting, PSMA-targeting product. Data on its Phase 2 prostate cancer trial could come in the second half of this year. “The field of radioconjugates is a little behind the field of ADCs at the moment, but it holds great potential,” AstraZeneca’s oncology R&D leader Susan Galbraith said at the earnings event. Elsewhere, AstraZeneca shut down: The company also reiterated the termination of a mid-stage study of an orexin 1 receptor antagonist, AZD4041, in opioid use disorder. The shuttering emerged in November , with a spokesperson telling Endpoints News the move was due to “a potential drug-drug interaction.” It appears that AstraZeneca will put its long-acting amylin asset AZD6234 into a new Phase 2b trial in obesity, in combination with the GLP-1/glucagon agonist AZD9550. According to a record on the EU’s trial database , the trial will end in the middle of next year. AZD6234 is already in a separate mid-stage monotherapy trial, which could yield data late this year. The company claimed it is heading into an “unprecedented catalyst-rich 2025,” citing a handful of late-stage trials for indication expansions, such as the AVANZAR study of Datroway in first-line non-small cell lung cancer. David Fredrickson, the leader of the company’s oncology business, affirmed his confidence in the ADC despite its stumbles in late-stage trials in both lung and breast cancers. “We’ve been able to apply the lessons that we’ve learned from the previous Phase 3 and Phase 2 studies that have read out so far to the frontline AVANZAR study,” Fredrickson said. The trial is enriched for the non-squamous population “because we think that’s the opportunity to see the most benefit for Datroway in the front line.” Combining the drug with the checkpoint inhibitor Imfinzi could also increase the chances of success, he said. Other major Phase 3 readouts will come for products still in earlier stages, such as the SERD camizestrant in breast cancer, baxdrostat in hypertension, and eneboparatide in hypoparathyroidism.