Oct. 17 Quick Takes: Gilead, MacroGenics in deal for bispecific
Biogen’s ALS candidate delayed, plus updates from Oculis, Treeline, Minerva, Acrivon and more
Three months after MacroGenics Inc. (NASDAQ:MGNX) dosed the first patient in a Phase I study of CD3xCD123-targeting bispecific antibody MGD024 to treat hematologic malignancies, Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) is paying $60 million up front for an option to obtain a license to the therapy, as well as two other options on undisclosed MacroGenics bispecifics. Based on MacroGenics’ Dual Affinity Re-Targeting (DART) platform, MGD024 is designed to minimize cytokine release syndrome while delivering anti-tumor efficacy with an increased half-life. The partners’ deal includes $1.7 billion in milestones, plus royalties. MacroGenics was up $0.44 (12%) to $3.96 on Monday.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis therapy tofersen from Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) now has a PDUFA date of April 25, after the company submitted additional information to FDA that constitutes a major amendment to the therapy’s NDA. The antisense oligonucleotide targeting SOD1, developed by Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS), is being evaluated to treat ALS patients harboring SOD1 mutations and could become the first neurodegenerative disease therapy to be granted accelerated approval based on NEFL, a biomarker of axon degeneration. ...