Sept. 1 Quick Takes: New warnings for JAK inhibitors shave billions off AbbVie’s valuation
Plus: Asher’s $108M B round, Mesoblast denial, Astellas’ liver tox concerns and more
Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY), AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV), and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) must add warnings to their respective JAK inhibitors Olumiant baricitinib, Rinvoq upadacitinib and Xeljanz tofacitinib after Xeljanz showed an increased risk of serious heart-related conditions such as heart attacks and blood clots in a randomized safety clinical trial. Shares of AbbVie shed 7% — a loss of $15 billion in market cap — while shares of Lilly and Pfizer were essentially unchanged.
Similar trials have not been run of Olumiant and Rinvoq. FDA had issued a warning in February that preliminary results from the safety trial showed a high dose of Xeljanz carried serious risk of heart-related conditions and cancer. FDA said the most recent findings from the study show the low dose also carries risk of blood clots and death. FDA has restricted the patient populations for all three drugs to patients who have failed TNF inhibitors. ...