In This Article:
This story was originally published on BioPharma Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily BioPharma Dive newsletter.
Today, a brief rundown of news from Roche and Turnstone Biologics, as well as updates from Sanofi, Pfizer and Flagship Pioneering that you may have missed.
Turnstone Biologics will lay off about 60% of its workforce and trim its pipeline in a bid to focus on a cancer cell therapy program in human testing, the company announced Friday. Through the restructuring, Turnstone will deprioritize preclinical work and put resources into a cell therapy in a Phase 1 trial for a variety of solid tumors. An update on the study is expected next year, while the restructuring moves will enable Turnstone to operate through the second quarter of 2026. Turnstone raised $80 million in an initial public offering last year, but shares have lost nearly all of their value since. — Ben Fidler
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved a new Roche drug for breast cancer. Called Itovebi, the drug has been cleared for use with Pfizer’s Ibrance and endocrine therapy in people whose HR-positive, HER2-negative breast tumors have a mutation called PIK3CA. It’ll compete for market share with Novartis’ Piqray, another medicine targeting PIK3CA mutations. Itovebi is one of five drugs Roche aims to add to its portfolio of breast cancer treatments, which already includes the targeted therapies Herceptin, Perjeta and Kadcyla. — Jonathan Gardner
Vaccine developer Gritstone bio has filed for bankruptcy. The company said Thursday it’s in discussions with a party that would act as a potential buyer or plan sponsor, and should have some kind of deal ironed out as early as next week. The disclosure comes just weeks after Gritstone tapped the investment bank Raymond James to be its financial adviser as the biotech evaluated “potential value-maximizing strategies.” Earlier this year, the company laid off a significant portion of its employees and, shortly after, received disappointing results from a key study of its experimental vaccine for colorectal cancer. — Jacob Bell
Denali Therapeutics said in a regulatory filing Thursday that partner Sanofi has stopped a Phase 2 trial testing one of the biotech’s experimental drugs in multiple sclerosis after the therapy missed its main and secondary study goals. The drug, oditrasertib, is part of a broad partnership Denali and Sanofi signed in 2018 to develop treatments for autoimmune and neurological diseases. It previously failed a study in ALS. — Delilah Alvarado