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Today, a brief rundown of news involving GSK and Bristol Myers Squibb, as well as updates from Elevation Oncology, Bayer and Airna that you may have missed.
GSK’s Blenrep has been approved in the U.K. to treat people whose multiple myeloma has progressed after one line of therapy, the company said Thursday. The clearance is Blenrep’s first since it was withdrawn from the market three years ago following the failure of a confirmatory trial, and comes after the company succeeded in additional studies that have since positioned it for a relaunch. The Food and Drug Administration is set to decide on a new approval in the U.S. by July 23. — Jonathan Gardner
Investment firm BML Capital Management has called for cancer drug developer Elevation Oncology to liquidate and return all of its cash to shareholders, according to a regulatory filing. Elevation dropped its lead drug, laid off a majority of its staff, and began a strategic review after reporting disappointing study data last month. That process often ends in a “reverse merger” with a privately held company that then continues on in the public markets. However, BML, which owns 9.9% of Elevation stock, argued in a letter to management that winding down is the company’s “best course of action” given the state of the equity markets and the “abysmal performance” of many recent reverse mergers. Multiple other struggling biotechs, including fellow cancer drug developer Essa Pharma, have recently faced activist pressure as well. — Ben Fidler
The FDA updated the prescribing information for Bristol Myers Squibb’s hypertrophic cardiomyopathy drug Camzyos to ease risk monitoring requirements and lower the number of therapies it’s contraindicated with, the company said Thursday. The updated prescribing information lowers the frequency of echocardiogram monitoring for some patients and removes two kinds of inhibitor drugs as contraindicated therapies. The move suggests “greater comfort” with so-called cardiac myosin inhibitors like Camzyos and should help “build out the still nascent” market for them, wrote Stifel analyst James Condulis. Camzyos generated $602 million in sales last year, and could soon face competition from Cytokinetics’ aficamten, which is currently being reviewed by U.S. regulators. — Ben Fidler
Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Channel Therapeutics will combine a trio of subsidiaries in a deal that will create a new company, Pelthos Therapeutics, focused on selling an already-approved prescription gel for molluscum infections. Pelthos will also own a portfolio of pain drugs aimed at Nav1.7, a target of interest to other developers as well, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals and SiteOne Therapeutics.Ligand will invest $18 million in the combined company, with a group led by investment firm Murchinson kicking in another $32 million. — Ben Fidler