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Several companies, including GSK, Janssen, Novartis and Pfizer, have announced that they are cutting their pipelines as they release their full-year 2022 financial results. The following are the drugs removed from these companies’ pipelines.
Bristol Myers Squibb
Cendakimab: Bristol Myers said it would no longer develop its atopic dermatitis antibody cendakimab, which had completed a Phase 2 study. Although the study met its primary endpoint, the treatment landscape for atopic dermatitis is crowded, and cendakimab does not offer a significant advantage over these existing options, according to the company’s chief medical officer, Samit Hirawat.
GSK
GSK3915393: GSK said in a quarterly earnings call that it had pulled the plug on GSK3915393, an inhibitor of transglutaminase 2 (TG2). The company had believed GSK3915393 held potential for celiac disease. The drug’s safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics were studied in a Phase 1.
Belantamab and GSK3878858A: The company has also pulled several other drug candidates from its pipeline, including the anti-BCMA antibody belantamab mafodotin (GSK2857916) for third-line multiple myeloma. It is also giving up GSK3878858A, a recombinant protein vaccine against S. aureus that was in a Phase 2 study.
GSK4362620A: GSK is also pulling the plug on GSK4362620A, a COVID-19 plant-derived virus-like particles vaccine known as Covifenz. GSK had been jointly developing the vaccine with Medicago but cited “major manufacturing issues” in preventing the use of the vaccine.
Janssen
JNJ-6358 and JNJ-8902: The company has decided to deprioritize the oncology bispecific JNJ-6358 and the prostate cancer candidate JNJ-8902. Neither shows up on the company’s latest overview of its pipeline. Trials for the two drug candidates, however, remain ongoing.
JNJ-6358 binds to CD3 on T-cells and human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) on cancer cells, while JNJ-8902 is CD3 x TMEFF2 bispecific.
Merck & Co.
Chikungunya vaccine: The company has given up on a vaccine for chikungunya, a mosquito-transmitted viral infection. Merck acquired the vaccine candidate from its 2020 acquisition of Themis Bioscience. The vaccine was studied in a Phase 2 clinical trial. Emergent Biosolutions continues to have a chikungunya vaccine candidate in development.
Lenvima glioblastoma indication: Merck also is pulling the plug on targeting glioblastoma with Lenvima (lenvatinib), which it had been testing in combination with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) as part of its LEAP program. Eisai is a collaborator in the LEAP program, which also focuses on triple-negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, biliary tract cancers and pancreatic cancer.
Novartis
Cosentyx: Novartis said it had abandoned a Phase 3 study of Cosentyx (secukinumab), an IL-17A antibody in active peripheral spondyloarthritis. A note on clinicaltrials.gov said the trial was “terminated due to strategic decision of senior management.”
Branaplam: The company also stated in an interim 2022 earnings report that it would cull its branaplam program after reviewing the potential benefit-risk from the Phase 2 VIBRANT-HD study in adults with Huntington’s Disease. In August, Novartis hit pause on a Phase 2b study of branaplam after identifying a potential association between the drug candidate and peripheral neuropathy.
The company was also testing the drug candidate in a Phase 2 study involving patients with spinal muscular atrophy.
Pfizer
Recifercept/additional Paxlovid indications: The Big Pharma has announced it will discontinue eight programs, including recifercept for achondroplasia (dwarfism) and two indications for COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid.
Other programs: Pfizer is also dropping a drug for autoimmune disorders that won an orphan designation for chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and a biologic for solid tumors. Finally, it is also pulling the plug on kinase inhibitors for melanoma and metastatic breast cancer.