Zealand, Arrowhead advance obesity drugs; Bluebird narrows guidance
Today, a brief rundown of news from Zealand Pharma and Bluebird Bio, as well as updates from Boundless Bio and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals that you may have missed.
Zealand Pharma plans to accelerate the development of its experimental weight loss drugs following clinical results that fueled a $1 billion equity raise, the company said Thursday. Zealand intends to start a Phase 2b study of an obesity shot, petrelintide, later this year and a mid-stage study of a different medication, dapiglutide, in the first half of 2025. Zealand is also working on a third drug, survodutide, with Boehringer Ingelheim and plans to start a Phase 3 trial in the liver disease metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis next year. — Ben Fidler
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals is bringing into human testing two RNA-based medicines for obesity, the company said Wednesday. Arrowhead expects to begin clinical trials next year for two candidates dubbed ARO-INHBE and ARO-ALK7, both of which work differently than available drugs and have shown signs in preclinical testing of being able to suppress weight as well as preserve muscle mass. Still, the programs are well behind many others and “competitive intensity in obesity/muscle preservation” is “quite high,” wrote Leerink Partners analyst Mani Foroohar. Arrowhead’s share price was little changed after the announcement. — Ben Fidler
Bluebird bio has reworked a loan with Hercules Capital following the latest quarterly results for its three marketed gene therapies Lyfgenia, Zynteglo and Skysona. The company now anticipates 85 patients will start the treatment process this year, the low end of the 85 to 105 it previously forecast. The revised financing terms have also pushed back, until 2025, stipulations tied to Lyfgenia’s patient starts and gross profit. In an email to BioPharma Dive, a company spokesperson said Bluebird is seeing “significant demand,” and only narrowed its outlook to set a more “accurate estimate” based on the launch’s current trajectory. “We just don’t have enough time left in the year to achieve the top end of our prior guidance,” she added. — Gwendolyn Wu
Less than five months after raising $100 million in an initial public offering, cancer drug developer Boundless Bio is laying off staff, the company said Thursday. Alongside its quarterly results, Boundless revealed it has “narrowed its discovery work and, as a result, modestly reduced its workforce,” which will extend its financial runway through the end of 2026. The company had 72 full-time employees as of May 6, according to a regulatory filing. It didn’t specify how many positions would be affected by the job cuts. — Gwendolyn Wu
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