iTeos shares jump on TIGIT update; Acelyrin swaps CEOs
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Today, a brief rundown of news from iTeos Therapeutics, as well as notes on Gilead, Acelyrin and Bluebird bio that you may have missed yesterday:
Shares in iTeos Therapeutics jumped by nearly 40% Friday morning after the biotechnology company gave an update on a clinical trial of a cancer drug combination it’s studying with GSK. Interim data surpassed iTeos’ “pre-defined efficacy criteria for clinically relevant activity,” the company said. The study is testing iTeos’ anti-TIGIT antibody together with GSK’s PD-1 inhibitor Jemperli in first-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. — Ned Pagliarulo
Bluebird bio made national headlines in The New York Times this week with news it had collected the cells of the first patient set to undergo treatment with its sickle cell disease therapy Lyfgenia. In an earnings update Thursday, the company disclosed that, so far this year, 14 patients have started the treatment process for its other two marketed gene therapies — 11 for Zynteglo, which treats severe beta thalassemia, and 3 for Skysona, approved for a rare brain disorder. Bluebird expects between 85 and 105 “patient starts” for its three therapies this year. — Ned Pagliarulo
Immune drug developer Acelyrin said Thursday that founder Shao-Lee Lin has stepped down as CEO and will be replaced by current chief legal and administrative officer Mina Kim. The biotech raised $540 million in an initial public offering last year, but has lost much of its value after hitting a clinical trial setback in September. — Ben Fidler
Gilead Sciences and partner Arcellx on Thursday afternoon disclosed the design of a Phase 3 trial they plan to run testing a CAR-T therapy in people with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The therapy, dubbed anito-cel, targets a protein called BCMA, similar to the approved cell therapies Carvykti, from Johnson & Johnson, and Abecma, from Bristol Myers Squibb. — Ned Pagliarulo
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