And so, another working week will soon draw to a close. Not a moment too soon, yes? This is, you may recall, our treasured signal to daydream about weekend plans. So far, our agenda is particularly modest. We plan to promenade with the official mascots, catch up on our reading, and hope to hold another listening party, where the rotation will likely include this, this, this, this and this. And what about you? Spring is closer to springing, so perhaps this is an opportunity to pick through closets or garages for unwanted items. If weather permits, you can enjoy the great outdoors with a long drive to nowhere or a walk in the park. Or maybe this is an opportunity to plan the rest of your life. Well, whatever you do, have a grand time. But be safe. Enjoy, and see you soon. …
China has approved a new obesity treatment from Pfizer, heightening competition in a market poised to become even more crowded with the looming entry of generics, Bloomberg News notes. The drug, ecnoglutide, is approved for chronic weight management in overweight or obese adults. The company secured China rights to the therapy from local startup Hangzhou Sciwind Bioscience in a $495 million deal last month. Pfizer now enters a field dominated by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, alongside Chinese drugmaker Innovent Biologics, though the company has not disclosed a price or launch date. The approval comes just as Novo’s Wegovy faces patent expiry later this month, opening the door for cheaper copycat drugs.
A senior U.S. Food and Drug Administration official called UniQure’s experimental treatment for Huntington’s disease a “failed product” in a conference call with media on Thursday, casting further doubt on the prospects for the gene therapy, Reuters writes. The drugmaker had said on Monday that the agency called for a new study to support the approval of its gene therapy for the rare, inherited neurodegenerative disorder, and rejected its most recent trial for not including participants given a placebo. The FDA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said a trial run by the company several years ago with a placebo design “was stone cold negative. We have a failed product here.” UniQure said in a statement it is “confident in the strength of the data” submitted to the FDA.
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