Tristan Manalac

A strong crossover raise can suggest that a company has “reached a level of maturity” and could go public soon, according to Sofinnova Investments' Jim Healy.

Hisbago's approval—a functional cure for certain patients with a hepatitis B infection—further validates Ionis Pharmaceuticals' antisense platform, which has already generated two other new drug approvals this year.

Aside from RG6540, Roche also discontinued a host of other early-stage assets, including an antisense oligonucleotide for Alzheimer's disease and a small-molecule candidate for geographic atrophy.

Roche will pay Zymeworks $55 million upfront plus another $40 million once the partnership asset enters Phase 1b development and up to $718 million in additional milestones.

After cardiac safety signals led to a full clinical hold on Aardvark Therapeutics' studies of ARD-101, the biotech conducted an additional safety study, in which no cardiac events were detected. Aardvark plans to resume testing the candidate next year.

The bispecific T cell engager Imdelltra, when used alongside AstraZeneca's Imfinzi, extended survival by eight months versus Imfinzi alone in Phase 3 study testing the combo in a first-line maintenance setting—a potentially “practice-changing” outcome, according to Truist Securities.

JNJ-6143, which came from Johnson & Johnson's $3 billion takeover of Halda Therapeutics in 2025, showed a 75% overall response rate in the Phase 1 readout.

Novartis remains “very happy” with its $12 billion acquisition of Avidity Biosciences, despite a Phase 3 disappointment for the antibody-oligonucleotide conjugate del-desiran.

A clearly superior clinical profile, reasonable pricing and easy access has helped a handful of recently approved therapies achieve impressive launches.

Astellas Pharma could secure the exclusive global rights to Audax Biosciences' DAX-044, an antibody-cytokine fusion therapy that activates the immune system in the vicinity of the tumor.