Roivant's immune drug helped treat rare skin disease

Roivant and its spinout Priovant said this morning that their immune-modifying drug significantly outperformed placebo in clearing lesions caused by a rare skin disease in a small trial.

Executives earlier told investors they would be satisfied if the drug, brepocitinib, outscored placebo by five points on a scale of disease activity. But the actual results outperformed those expectations — there was an over 20-point difference between patients treated on a high dose and patients on placebo.

The companies did not break down safety data, though, only saying there were no serious adverse events and all adverse events were mild or moderate.

politics

What to know about the newly launched TrumpRx

President Trump last night announced the launch of TrumpRx, the website that he and his aides have touted for months as a platform aimed at lowering prescription drug prices.

The website doesn't sell medications; it displays the cash prices for certain brand-name drugs and directs patients to other sites or pharmacies where they can buy the therapies. It's part of Trump's plan to lower drug prices in the U.S., but some experts are skeptical the platform will meaningfully affect affordability.

For more details on the website and what impact it could have, go here.

obesity

Novo and Hims face off again over compounding

Telehealth company Hims & Hers announced yesterday that it will sell a cheaper, compounded version of the Wegovy pill sold by Novo Nordisk, a move that the drugmaker accused is "illegal mass compounding."

Making copies of brand-name drugs is typically only allowed when the medications are in shortage, but Hims has continued to sell compounded GLP-1 treatments even when they've not been in shortage, claiming that it's offering customized products that abide by the law.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a social media post just hours after the Hims announcement that the agency "will take swift action against companies mass-marketing illegal copycat drugs, claiming they are similar to FDA-approved products." He did not mention Hims by name, though.

biotech

Rivalry between two eye drug companies intensifies

A rivalry between two companies making competing eye treatments appears to have resulted in some trash talking.

At a recent investor conference, Jay Duker, CEO of Eyepoint Pharmaceuticals, expressed doubts about competitor Ocular Therapeutix's drug and also questioned why Ocular management was taking so long to announce results from its Phase 3 study, my colleague Adam Feuerstein has learned.

Both companies' drugs are designed for wet age-related macular degeneration, a common cause of vision loss in older people.

podcast

IPOs, GLP-1s, and challenges with a gene therapy

On this week's episode of The Readout LOUD, we discuss the very different financial outlooks from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, a psychedelics drug from Compass Pathways that encountered a roadblock in Washington, and a closer look at why manufacturing problems have slowed the rollout of Vertex's sickle cell disease treatment.

Also, it's our pre-Super Bowl show. Listen here to find out which team each co-host supports.

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