Feb. 4 Quick Takes: Vanda’s tradipitant records second Phase III miss

The latest setback for tradipitant from Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VNDA) is a Phase III gastroparesis miss that triggered an 18% fall in the company’s shares to $12.03 on Friday. In the VP-VLY-686-3303 study, the NK1R antagonist failed to change the severity of nausea at 12 weeks vs. placebo; however, the company cited an imbalance of rescue medication use between the two arms and poor compliance with the study drug. Tradipitant also missed the primary endpoint in a Phase III atopic dermatitis study in 2020, but it’s still in Phase III development for that indication, motion sickness and COVID-19 pneumonia.

With a BCMA-directed CAR T cell therapy demonstrating a response rate as high as 100%, Arcellx Inc.  (NASDAQ:ACLX) raised $123.8 million in an IPO in which it sold 8.25 million shares at $15, the bottom end of its proposed range, valuing the company at $503 million. Shares ended their first day of trading up $1.80 (12%) to $16.80. Arcellx’s investors include Samsara BioCapital, CAM Capital, Adage, Asymmetry, CaaS Capital, Cambrian Bio, Sixty Degree, Soleus Capital, Surveyor Capital, Suvretta, Terra Magnum Capital Partners, NEA, Novo Holdings, SR One, Takeda Ventures, LG Tech, and Clough Capital. BofA Securities, SVB Leerink, Barclays and William Blair were joint book-running managers for the offering. ...