Immunovant, Inc.

NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Immunovant, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMVT), a clinical-stage immunology company dedicated to enabling normal lives for people with autoimmune diseases, today announced that data from the Phase 2a trial of batoclimab in Graves’ disease will be the subject of an oral presentation of a late-breaking abstract accepted for the 2024 American Thyroid Association (ATA) Annual Meeting being held October 30 to November 3, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois. New data highlighting both thyroid-specific and extrathyroidal manifestations of Graves' disease will be presented. Late-Breaking Oral Presentation Details: Title:Efficacy and Safety of the FcRn Inhibitor, Batoclimab, in Graves’ Thyroidal and Extrathyroidal Disease: a Proof-of-concept StudyPresentation:#0020Session:#5 – Autoimmune Thyroid DiseaseDate and Time:Friday, November 1, 2024, 4:05pm – 5:05pm ETPresenter:George Kahaly, MD, PhD About Graves’ disease Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disorder associated with the overproduction of thyroid hormones and is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. Although Graves’ disease can affect any age group or gender, it occurs often in women younger than 40 years of age. In Graves’ disease, harmful IgG autoantibodies bind to and activate the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor present on the thyroid gland, stimulating excess thyroid hormone production. Existing treatments, which include antithyroid drugs, radioactive iodine, and thyroid surgery, are aimed at reducing thyroid hormone levels to lessen the severity of symptoms. These treatments have remained largely unchanged for the past 70 years. About Immunovant, Inc. Immunovant, Inc. is a clinical-stage immunology company dedicated to enabling normal lives for people with autoimmune diseases. As a trailblazer in anti-FcRn technology, the Company is developing innovative, targeted therapies to meet the complex and variable needs of people with autoimmune diseases. For additional information on the Company, please visit immunovant.com. Contact:Renee Barnett, MBA Chief Financial Officer Immunovant, Inc. info@immunovant.com Source: Immunovant, Inc.

Frazier Life Sciences has added more than $630 million to its evergreen public fund, the firm said Wednesday. The long-only fund, which is based in Palo Alto, CA, has been marketed to investors as a “hybrid structure to navigate volatility and liquidity in SMID-cap biotech,” according to materials posted by the New Mexico State Investment Council, which is committing up to $50 million to the public fund. “We are seeking to strategically take advantage of market volatility,” the firm said in June in its investor presentation. It now has $1.7 billion in total commitments after debuting with $830 million in 2021 and raising $243 million a year later. The biotech landscape is far different than when Frazier unwrapped its public fund in the fall of 2021. In September of that year, the number of life sciences companies with a negative enterprise value was 21. As of Sept. 20 of this year, that tally stood at 133, according to a recent Stifel report . “The number of early-stage companies going public has just exploded over the course of the last five-plus years,” general partner Jamie Brush told Endpoints News in 2021. “So the opportunity set for early-stage companies where Frazier wants to be investing has really increased on the public side.” The biotech IPO market cratered soon after that unveiling. Since then, initial public offerings have been few and far between, though there’s been a string of debuts this fall and more interest-rate cuts could be a positive signal for the market going forward. Follow-on offerings, meanwhile, have had a “ very strong year ,” according to Stifel. Frazier’s strategy Frazier has five main strategies for the fund. The first is “fallen angels,” which Frazier has described as companies that have “fallen out of favor but have promising assets,” like BridgeBio and Immunovant. Bain Capital Life Sciences, which just raised a $3 billion fourth fund, employs a similar strategy . Another bucket is “proprietary information,” in which Frazier gets data that are not publicly available, as it has done in the case of Rocket Pharmaceuticals and Mirum Pharmaceuticals. The third is “structured terms” or “creative” deals. The firm also invests in companies that are newly public like CG Oncology, which had the largest biotech IPO of the year at $380 million in January . And the final strategy is “off-the-beaten path,” or companies that are “lesser known” such as Egetis Therapeutics and Chinook Therapeutics. Novartis bought Chinook in a deal worth up to $3.5 billion last year. Frazier has said its public fund portfolio companies have secured a dozen FDA approvals, including Acadia’s Daybue, bluebird’s three gene therapies, Iovance’s Amtagvi and Phathom’s Voquezna. Some companies have been acquired, including Iveric Bio, which sold to Astellas for $5.9 billion ; Reata’s $7.3 billion exit to Biogen; Alpine Immune Sciences’ $4.9 billion sale to Vertex; and Sierra Oncology’s $1.9 billion exit to GSK. On the venture side, Frazier last disclosed a $987 million life sciences fund in March 2022.

Dive Brief:Wall Street analysts greeted research announcements from Amgen about two immunology medicines with skepticism, saying the results suggest the drugs wont pose a major challenge to market leaders.Amgen shared the top-line results from two Phase 3 trials during an investor presentation Tuesday. In the first, Amgens experimental rocatinlimab showed statistically significant improvement versus placebo for patients with atopic dermatitis, a form of eczema. In the second study, the drug Uplizna succeeded in treating generalized myasthenia gravis.But in research notes published following the presentation, analysts called the rocatinlimab results disappointing, saying the drug needed to show an especially high efficacy profile to counter safety concerns. The Uplizna findings, meanwhile, suggest Amgen has a viable second-line contender to treat myasthenia gravis but likely wont threaten Argenxs Vyvgart as a first-line choice, analysts said.Dive Insight:Amgen is batting .500 with this update, Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond wrote in a note to clients. While he called the rocatinlimab data no bueno, he said the potential for Uplizna as a second-line treatment in generalized myasthenia gravis could be sizable.The competitive bar for the markets Amgen is targeting with the two drugs is quite high. Both have approved, effective medicines and a number of companiesvyingto introducenew options.Amgen said Tuesdays announcement is the first of eight study readouts that will build its understanding of the rocatinlimabs role in eczema. The company, which is developing the drug with partner Kyowa Kirin, is also studying the medicine in asthma and prurigo nodularis.Though its difficult to compare trials conducted in different ways by different companies, analysts said the initial results on rocatinlimab dont measure up well against Sanofi and Regeneron PharmaceuticalsDupixent. The results are underwhelming, especially when there are still questions about safety, Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger wrote to clients.Uplizna is already approved for a different immune disease, and Amgen is hoping to expand its use. Amgen said it plans to use the latest results, which it termed potentially practice-changing, to file for approval in myasthenia gravis and told investors the drugs 6-month dosing schedule offers a potential competitive edge.The drug works in a different way than Vyvgart, by binding to a CD19 protein. Though Amgens Uplinza data was lackluster, it does help show that the approach can be effective, Leerink Partners analyst Thomas J. Smith wrote to investors. And Amgens results may clear an overhang for competitors including Immunovant, Kyverna Therapeutics and Cartesian Therapeutics, he said.Amgen shares fell almost 5% in early trading on Tuesday. '