AstraZeneca has taken the decision not to move a PCSK9-targeting antisense drug licensed from Ionis into a phase 3 programme, removing a competitor to Novartis' rival therapy Leqvio.
Verve Therapeutics has started dosing patients in a phase 1b trial of its in vivo gene-editing drug for high cholesterol, designed to permanently switch off the PCSK9 gene with a one-shot t
At its second attempt, Novartis has won FDA approval for its cholesterol lowering drug inclisiran, which can reduce levels with just two injections a year.
It has been five years since Lexicon Pharma's type 1 diabetes therapy, Zynquista, was rejected by the FDA, and it may struggle to have a better outcome at its second attempt.