BioPharm International, October 2019 Issue (PDF)

FDA reviews a proposed Keytruda biosimilar, Roche expands its obesity pipeline with an RNAi deal, and guselkumab shows promise for fistula remission in Crohn disease.

Dr. Paz Vellanki discusses Bayesian methods, challenges in developing rare disease endpoints, and why sponsors should engage FDA early in clinical development.

As ArsenalBio, TScan, and others abandon ex vivo programs for in vivo engineering, early clinical data and platform differences point to both the promise and the unresolved safety, manufacturing, and regulatory questions of generating CAR-T cells inside the body.

Johnson & Johnson's guselkumab achieved up to 29% fistula remission in hard-to-treat Crohn disease subgroups, including prior biologic failures.

Rona's ALK7 RNAi candidate, licensed to Roche for up to $1.06 billion in milestones, aims to cut visceral fat while sparing lean mass.

FDA has accepted for review the biologics license application for FYB206, a proposed pembrolizumab biosimilar developed without a comparative phase 3 efficacy trial. A decision could come in the third quarter of 2027.

In an eight-week obese non-human primate study, lean mass made up 6% of the weight lost with iBio’s Activin E antibody IBIO-610 plus semaglutide, compared with 22% with semaglutide alone. iBio plans to begin first-in-human studies in the first half of 2027.

Clinical results reveal new opportunities and setbacks in rare disease and cancer care, shaping treatment strategies and future regulatory decisions.