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Today, a brief rundown of news involving Amgen and Regeneron, as well as updates from Travere Therapeutics, Allogene and Kyverna Therapeutics that you may have missed.
A federal jury has found Amgen liable for violating antitrust and tort laws by using “bundled rebates” to give its cholesterol drug Repatha preferred market positioning over Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' rival Praluent. The suit, one of multiple legal spats between the two companies, accused Amgen of threatening to withhold rebates for Otezla and Enbrel — two popular autoimmune disease drugs — unless drug pricing middlemen chose Repatha and excluded Praluent from their formularies. Regeneron was awarded $135.6 million in compensatory damages and another $271.2 million in punitive damages. — Ben Fidler
Shares of Travere Therapeutics fell Friday morning after the company revealed a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will meet to discuss the approval submission for its drug Filspari in the rare disease focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. The FDA will also use a standard evaluation timeline with a Jan. 13 decision date, instead of a speedier priority review, as some investors and analysts had hoped. In a research note, Leerink Partners analyst Joseph Schwartz wrote the FDA's decision is “not all that surprising” given Filspari could be the first standard approval tied to a drug's ability to lower levels of protein in the urine. The agency has also scheduled multiple advisory meetings of late, which could “partly be a function of the new administration trying to be more transparent with their regulatory decisions,” Schwartz wrote. — Ben Fidler
Allogene is laying off 28% of its workforce and reducing its manufacturing operations to focus resources on the cell therapies it has in clinical testing. In a quarterly earnings report Wednesday, the company disclosed the layoffs and delayed two anticipated study readouts for its donor-derived cell therapies to 2026. One trial is a pivotal study in early lymphoma, while the other is a Phase 1 trial in autoimmune conditions. The restructuring will enable Allogene to operate through the second half of 2027. — Ben Fidler
Kyverna Therapeutics, another cell therapy developer, has also cut staff. The company on Wednesday revealed it “streamlined the organization” during the first quarter, letting go 16% of a workforce that had 112 full-time employees at the beginning of March. Kyverna is prioritizing late-stage development plans, which are led by an autoimmune cell therapy in advanced testing for stiff person syndrome and myasthenia gravis. That therapy is in two early-stage studies in lupus as well. — Ben Fidler
Biotechnology startup Pathos AI said Thursday it raised $365 million in Series D funding from undisclosed investors to advance a pair of cancer drugs and invest in its artificial intelligence work. Pathos’ top two prospects were acquired in deals with Novo Nordisk and Prelude Therapeutics. One, dubbed P-500, has potential to treat solid tumors while the other, pocenbrodib, is in an early-stage trial in prostate cancer. The new funding leaves the company with a $1.6 billion value and follows a $62 million Series C led by New Enterprise Associates last October. — Ben Fidler