Randy Osborne

In what CEO Rachel Haurwitz called a “heartbreaking turn,” Caribou Biosciences Inc. plans to stop work with two allogeneic CAR T-cell therapy programs – one of which is pivotal trial-ready, with the phase III design OK'd by the U.S. FDA – and will explore strategic alternatives. Shares (NASDAQ:CRBU) closed Oct. 7 at 62 cents, down 52 cents, or 46%.

Viatris Inc. plans to discuss the buyout of Pacira Biosciences Inc. during its third-quarter earnings call Nov. 5, but the latter reacted nicely on Wall Street to the $36.50 per share price, which works out to an equity value of $1.65 billion. Pacira (NASDAQ:PCRX) closed Oct. 8 at $36.39, up $11.19, or 44%. Viatris (NASDAQ:VTRS) ended the day at $17.44, down 5 cents.

South San Francisco-based Trex Bio Inc. priced its IPO of about 8.3 million shares at $14 per share for about $116.7 million to finance efforts taking aim at a pair of targets hardly unfamiliar to the biopharma space. Another, smaller IPO to price is that of Falls Church, Va.-based Retension Pharmaceuticals Inc., which tied the bow on an upsized deal that involved 3.75 million shares sold for $12 each, to reap proceeds of $45 million.

Mirum Pharmaceuticals Inc. followed September's U.S. FDA approval of Atebrioz (zilurgisertib) in fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva with positive top-line data from the phase III Expand study testing Livmarli (maralixibat) for cholestatic pruritus in patients 6 months or older with ultrarare cholestatic liver diseases including biliary atresia (BA), for which nothing is approved.

The activin receptor-like kinase 7 (ALK7) pathway got another vote of confidence as Rona Therapeutics Inc. came to terms with Roche Holding AG, whereby the latter gained an exclusive worldwide license for an RNAi candidate.

Phase III news from competitor Abbvie Inc. in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) put a sizeable dent in shares of Avalo Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:AVTX), which ended Oct. 22 at $7.45, a loss of $4.81 or 39%. Abbvie rolled out positive top-line data from the phase III Intrepid study testing lutikizumab, an investigational dual-variable-domain IL-1-alpha/1-beta antagonist, in 1,400 adults and adolescents with moderate to severe HS.

“So far, so good” was at least one reaction – though not the market's – to phase I data uncorked by Macrogenics Inc. at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting in Madrid, where attendees heard about work with MGC-026, a B7-H3-directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Alkeus Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s dosing this summer of the first patient in its phase III Northstar study with oral vitamin A derivative gildeuretinol (ALK-001) marked more news in the percolating Stargardt's disease space.

Xencor Inc. plans to talk with the U.S. FDA next year about the possibility of accelerated approval for XmAb-819, an ENPP3xCD3 T-cell engaging bispecific antibody, in patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Shares of the Pasadena, Calif.-based firm (NASDAQ:XNCR) ended Oct. 26 at $29.18, up $4, or 16%, on updated positive results from the phase I study with XmAb-819.

Investor eyes turned to such competitors as Nkarta Inc. and Fate Therapeutics Inc. after shares of Artiva Biotherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ARTV) closed Oct. 27 at $4.27, down $1.89, or 30.7%, in reaction to serious mid-stage trouble with allogeneic natural killer (NK) cell therapy candidate AlloNK (AB-101).