Sarepta, Zalicus, Alkermes, & More
Summary
—Johnson & Johnson won FDA approval this week of ibrutinib (Imbruvica), a highly-anticipated blood cancer drug it co-developed with Sunnyvale, CA-based Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC).Catabasis CEO Jill Milne acknowledged that an IPO is a possibility, but that the company wants to get its lead drug, CAT-2003, further into clinical trials and develop some of its other assets before it takes the leap.—Cambridge-based Zafgen revealed the full results from the Phase II study of its injectable fat-zapping drug, beloranib, and the numbers held up from the top-line figures it announced earlier this year.—The FDA has given a fast-track designation to Cambridge-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’s (NASDAQ: ALNY) experimental RNA-based drug, patisiran, for transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy, meaning it will get a speedier review from the agency than it would have otherwise.Founder, executive chairman and chief scientific officer David Fine is by far the company’s largest shareholder, owning 58.2 percent of GeNo’s stock.