Eight weeks of sofosbuvir-velpatasvir was similar in efficacy to the standard 12-week regimen in treatment-naive, non-cirrhotic patients with chronic hepatitis C in the RESOLVE multicentre, open-label, non-inferiority, randomised controlled trial in India. The finding supports shortening treatment duration in this population.
Orforglipron was non-inferior to insulin glargine for MACE-4 in adults with type 2 diabetes at increased cardiovascular risk, establishing its cardiovascular safety in the event-driven ACHIEVE-4 trial. Gastrointestinal adverse events were the most frequent adverse event and the most common reason for orforglipron discontinuation, while clinically significant hypoglycaemia occurred less often with orforglipron than with insulin glargine. The findings support orforglipron as a once-daily oral option with established cardiovascular safety in this population.
Regeneron reported Phase II data (N=975) at the EASD meeting and in The Lancet: trevogrumab combined with semaglutide reduced lean mass loss by about 50% by DXA and muscle volume loss by about 70% by MRI.
Combining Eli Lilly's Zepbound with eloralintide, an amylin-targeting candidate, produced 23.3% weight loss at 48 weeks in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes at the highest dose, outperforming Zepbound alone (14.8%) and eloralintide alone (11.1%). High discontinuation rates may raise tolerability questions. It shows next-generation combination therapy can achieve greater weight loss even in patients with diabetes, who typically lose less on medications.
Weekly injections of petrelintide produced roughly 10% weight loss over 42 weeks in the Phase II ZUPREME 1 trial, with a permanent discontinuation rate due to gastrointestinal events of only 1.5%. Results were presented at the EASD annual meeting and published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
Why it matters: The article gives 42-week weight-loss figures by dose and gastrointestinal discontinuation rates that readers can compare directly with real-world GLP-1 discontinuation data.
Intravenous zabilugene almadenorepvec (VCN-01), a hyaluronidase-expressing oncolytic adenovirus, plus gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel prolonged overall survival over chemotherapy alone in the randomized phase 2b VIRAGE trial in treatment-naive metastatic pancreatic cancer. The finding supports adding an oncolytic virus to standard first-line chemotherapy in this setting.
Retatrutide produced substantial improvements in bodyweight and improved glycaemic control in adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes in the phase 3 TRIUMPH-2 trial, a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled comparison. Its safety profile was generally consistent with other molecules with GLP-1 receptor agonism, supporting retatrutide as a possible treatment for obesity in people with type 2 diabetes.
NEJM published Eli Lilly's phase 3 TRIUMPH-1 trial of retatrutide. Among 2339 patients with obesity but without diabetes, after 80 weeks of randomization, the 4 mg/9 mg/12 mg dose groups lost an average of 17.6%/23.7%/25.0% of body weight versus 3.9% with placebo (differences of -19.8 and -21.0 percentage points, both P<0.001).
Roche has discontinued development of a muscle-building drug and ended a trial testing it in combination with an anti-obesity injectable, returning the experimental medicine to Chugai. The move removes one candidate from the muscle-preserving approach to obesity treatment.
Adicet Bio reported that its off-the-shelf CAR-T therapy improved symptoms in lupus patients in an early-stage study. The company plans to advance further development based on these data. Despite the positive data, its stock fell that day.
Four-year data on UniQure's Huntington's gene therapy AMT-130 showed a 44% slowing of disease progression on the cUHDRS in 12 high-dose patients, non-significant versus natural history controls and down from the 75% slowing reported at three years; the stock fell as much as 38% to $24.11. Total functional capacity slowing was 61% and significant, and a three-year analysis of all 15 high-dose patients showed 80% slowing on cUHDRS and 67% on TFC, the timepoint anchoring the submitted BLA. Five high-dose patients, 17%, had treatment-related serious CNS inflammation events, all resolved.
Roche has stopped developing emugrobart, an anti-myostatin antibody intended to spare lean mass during weight loss, and rights revert to Chugai, which plans to resume development for spinal muscular atrophy and advance it into Phase 3. Roche had been testing the drug in the Phase 2 GYMINDA trial in combination with tirzepatide. The exit removes Roche's myostatin-targeting approach from the obesity field, leaving enicepatide and petrelintide as its main obesity assets.
Why it matters: A major pharma abandoning a muscle-preserving obesity mechanism reshapes the competitive landscape and returns the asset to Chugai for Phase 3 in SMA.
RO7589831, a first-in-class inhibitor of the synthetic lethal target Werner syndrome helicase, showed some partial responses in the dose-escalation stage of a phase 1 trial in patients with microsatellite instability and/or DNA mismatch repair-deficient solid tumors. The maximum tolerated dose was not reached.
Once-daily oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist safiglipron reduced HbA1c by up to 1.45% versus placebo over 32 weeks in people with early type 2 diabetes not taking glucose-lowering medication, in the randomized OUTSTAND-1 trial. Body weight effects were modest. It offers an oral option with glycemic efficacy in this population.
Garetosmab, an activin A-blocking antibody, substantially reduced the number of new heterotopic bone lesions in patients with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva in the randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 OPTIMA trial. The results support its potential as an efficacious and generally well tolerated disease-modifying therapy for FOP.
Zenkuda tarcocimab tedromer met the primary endpoint in the Phase III DAYBREAK study in wet AMD, showing non-inferiority to Eylea aflibercept on best corrected visual acuity at one year. More than half of patients reached a six-month dosing interval, a point of differentiation in retinal disease, and Kodiak Sciences shares rose 178% on the news.
Kodiak Sciences' Zenkuda matched Regeneron's Eylea in a Phase 3 trial in wet age-related macular degeneration, improving visual acuity by 7.2 letters versus 7.6 for Eylea, with 54% of participants dosed only once every six months under an individualized strategy. Tabirafusp alfa tedromer was also non-inferior, gaining 6.3 letters. Kodiak shares more than doubled and its market value rose by more than $3 billion; an FDA filing for Zenkuda is planned in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Adicet's donor-derived gamma delta CAR-T therapy prula-cel drove lupus into remission in an early-stage trial. After a year of follow-up, 50% of evaluable lupus nephritis patients had a complete kidney response and 54% met criteria for remission, with all stopping immunosuppressive drugs and no serious cytokine release syndrome or neurological side effects. A pivotal lupus study is planned for the fourth quarter.
