Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ olezarsen has Phase 3 results showing the therapy handily beat a placebo at reducing fat levels in the blood due to a rare, inherited metabolic disorder with no FDA-approved drugs. Ionis plans early 2024 submissions for what could become the first medicine it commercializes without a partner.

Novartis and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, already partners in cardiovascular disease R&D, are expanding their alliance to see if they can develop a next-generation therapy offering efficacy and dosing advantages. But competitors are already in the mix with programs addressing the same cardiovascular disease target.

An Ionis Pharmaceuticals heart disease drug beat a placebo in a mid-stage clinical trial, but partner AstraZeneca has decided it won’t advance the genetic medicine to a larger Phase 3 test. The results were apparently not enough to set the Ionis therapy apart from commercialized cholesterol-lowering drugs that address the same protein target.

An Ionis Pharmaceuticals drug has positive Phase 2 results in immunoglobulin A nephropathy, leading Roche to exercise its option to license the rights to the molecule. The pharmaceutical giant gets a contender in the chase to win the first regulatory approval of a therapy for this rare kidney disease.

The planned FDA submission follows the report from AstraZeneca and Ionis Pharmaceuticals that their partnered drug, eplontersen, met the main goals of a pivotal study in treating nerve pain caused by hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis. The data come one week after rival Alnylam Pharmaceuticals won FDA approval for its second drug for this rare disease.

Pardes Biosciences’ experimental oral antiviral for treating and preventing Covid-19 infection addresses the same target as Pfizer’s authorized pill Paxlovid, but with a potential dosing advantage. The Pardes pill is in Phase 1 testing, and the biotech joined the public markets this week after completing a SPAC merger that infuses the company with $274 million.

Pardes Biosciences advanced from concept to drug candidate in less than nine months. The preclinical biotech is developing an oral antiviral for Covid-19 and other coronavirus infections and it is going public in a SPAC merger that will infuse it with $276 million.

The company is hoping to close its seed funding round in the next six months and aims to be in a position to seek regulatory approval for its lead asset, PLX888, in acute alcoholic hepatitis in 2023.

French firm to start trial of Dyn101, in-licensed from US-based Ionis Pharmaceuticals, in centronuclear myopathy next year.

As virtual rehabilitation picks up, traditional orthopedics widget makers like Breg are foraying into at-home physical therapy using a sensor device and a companion mobile app.

Obalon has developed a gastric balloon system to help overweight patients shed extra pounds, but will the device work over the long term?