INmune Bio's Alzheimer's drug falls short of mid-stage study goal, shares tumble
The drug, XPro, is designed to target and inhibit inflammatory signals associated with a type of protein called tumor necrosis factor without suppressing the immune system.
The study enrolled 208 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), or mild cognitive impairment, an early sign of the disease, who were randomly chosen to receive a weekly subcutaneous injection of XPro or a placebo for 24 weeks.
The drug was safe and well-tolerated, the company said, with injection site reactions the most common adverse event.
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Reuters
14 minutes ago
- Reuters
India File: The new gold rush for weight-loss drugs
(This was originally published in the India File newsletter, which is issued every Tuesday. Sign up here to get the latest news from India and how it matters to the world.) India has joined the global rush for weight-loss drugs as Novo Nordisk launched its popular Wegovy last week in the world's most populous country, just months after the arrival of rival Eli Lilly's Mounjaro. India's pharmaceutical powerhouses are also gearing up to launch generic versions of these drugs, putting it squarely on the map of what could become a $150 billion global market within the next 10 years. That's our focus this week. And, after a bountiful monsoon brought a bumper rice harvest, India is diverting record volumes to ethanol production to rein in inventories. Scroll down for more on that. From healthcare to esports, Asia's industries are evolving fast. Register, opens new tab to watch the live broadcast of the #ReutersNEXTAsia, opens new tab summit on July 9 to see how innovation is reshaping the region. ** China's rare earths are flowing again, but not freely ** Trump complains about US-Japan trade talks as Bessent warns of higher tariffs ** Thai Constitutional Court to weigh petition seeking PM's dismissal ** China's factory activity returns to growth in June, Caixin PMI shows India looks poised to become the next big battleground in the booming market for weight-loss drugs, its strong economic growth and rapidly rising rates of obesity drawing the attention of both global pharmaceutical giants and home-grown generics makers. Denmark's Novo Nordisk last week began selling its blockbuster drug Wegovy in India while competitor Eli Lilly introduced an easy-to-use version of its Mounjaro, in what Jefferies predicts could soon grow into a $1 billion market. That's still a small fraction of the worldwide market, worth $24 billion last year according to IQVIA, while various forecasts indicate it could reach $150 billion early in the next decade. Many forecasts, moreover, have been raised sharply over the past year, and both analysts and industry executives have marked India and other big emerging markets as an essential driver of that growth. India lags only China in the number of adults with diabetes and its obesity rates are on the rise. A government survey last year noted that rising incomes and urbanisation have boosted consumption of processed food and beverages. "Driven by unhealthy diets, sedentary lifestyles, and environmental factors, obesity is rising rapidly, impacting both urban and rural populations," Nadim Anwer, pharmaceuticals analyst at data and analytics firm GlobalData, wrote in a report last month. "This trend is driving market growth," Anwer said. A government health survey conducted from 2019 to 2021 found nearly one in four Indian adults was overweight or obese. Just five years earlier that figure was one in five. Looking at obesity alone, the World Obesity Federation estimated the rate among Indian adults at 8% in 2023, well below 22% in the U.S. But India's population is four times larger, and its adult obesity rate is forecast to keep rising to 11% by 2035. This has drawn the attention not just of overseas majors like Novo and Lilly. Indian pharmaceutical heavyweights such as Sun Pharma, Cipla, Dr. Reddy's, Lupin and Biocon are preparing to launch cheaper generic drugs once semaglutide, the active compound in Wegovy, goes off-patent in 2026. Analysts at Jefferies said these big drugmakers would be particularly well-placed to benefit, given the complexity of manufacturing the drugs. Read here for details on firms looking to enter this segment. But these weight-loss drugs aren't going cheap - at least for now. Wegovy and Mounjaro are priced between 17,000 rupees and 26,000 rupees a month, putting them out of reach for most Indians without insurance or deep pockets. That hasn't dimmed enthusiasm among India's burgeoning urban middle class. Doctors across the country reported a surge in patient enquiries, mirroring the global frenzy, and Lilly said the response has been positive in India. While the entry of generics is likely to drive costs down eventually, other question marks hang over these drugs. New research has shown that they have a smaller impact in real life than in trials, the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter noted in its June edition. You can sign up for that newsletter here. Moreover, the World Health Organization said late last year that, while the drugs carry "the possibility of an end to the obesity pandemic", they also risk leaving behind those without access to proper healthcare and could overshadow other efforts to improve health. The WHO is due to release a report soon that would nevertheless back the use of such drugs for adults globally. Read here for that exclusive report. What do you think about the future of weight-loss drugs in India? Could it become a top world market - and manufacturer - for the pharmaceutical industry's latest blockbuster? Write to me at opens new tab. India is diverting record volumes of rice to ethanol production as it struggles with unprecedented inventories of the grain, which are likely to swell further with the arrival of the new harvest. India in March lifted the last of its rice export restrictions, which were adopted two years ago in response to poor rains. Now, the world's No.3 oil importer and consumer of petroleum products wants to harness that bumper harvest to meet its growing energy needs. The government has set a target to increase the proportion of gasoline blended with ethanol to 20% by 2025-26. It nearly hit that target in May, reaching 19.8%, with help from surplus rice. Read this in-depth report by Reuters correspondent Rajendra Jadhav. The Dalai Lama will address a major Buddhist gathering this week ahead of his 90th birthday, as followers await clues about his succession that may end up provoking China. Beijing views the exiled Tibetan leader as a separatist and says it will appoint his successor, which the Dalai Lama rejects. He has previously said it is possible his reincarnation will be found outside China, perhaps in India. Discussions around reincarnation usually don't happen during a monk's lifetime but Tibet's chief state oracle, who is also in exile in India, has said Beijing's interference changed that. No longer just a matter of religious significance for the Dalai Lama's followers, the succession has taken on geopolitical significance for China, India and the United States. Reuters journalist Krishna N. Das explains the Dalai Lama's succession plans here.
Times
25 minutes ago
- Times
What I learnt … going into the US too fast
K rishan Ramdoo, 40, is the founder of Tympahealth, the maker of an all-in-one ear healthcare tool that can perform ear examinations, remove earwax and test hearing. Before founding the company in 2017, Ramdoo worked for the NHS for 11 years as an ear, nose and throat surgeon before completing a PhD at University College London. Tympahealth has raised over £50 million from investors and the tool has been used on 450,000 patients. Its first big UK customer was Boots Hearingcare. It entered the US market at the end of 2023 and soon realised it had taken on too much. I was constantly seeing the same patients coming to see me. They were waiting weeks on end to see a specialist. [But] I needed to see patients who needed an operation. They didn't need to see me.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Teenager reaches 'giant milestone' after falling 120ft from a cliff when altitude sickness made him hallucinate
A 14-year-old boy appears to be on the road to recovery weeks after walking off a 120-foot cliff during a hike on California 's Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the continental United States. Zane Wach was placed into a coma following the harrowing incident in which the teenager began hallucinating due to what doctors believe was altitude sickness. His father, Ryan Wach, shared the news his son reached his first 'giant milestone' after having his breathing tube removed. 'I'll be brief today as it was a big day but very hard,' Ryan wrote. 'Zane had the breathing tube removed and was taken off the [ventilator]. This was a giant milestone and opens the door to many new steps forward. 'He's not doing much else at the moment, the largest focus is watching closely so that he does well breathing on his own as well and being able to cough and swallow. 'The hard part is that he is well into feeling the effects of withdrawal,' the doting dad explained. 'He's been on a lot of heavy drugs for a while and getting off those is extremely hard and painful. As parents, it's terrible to watch. We hope he gets through this with the least possible suffering.' Ryan witnessed his son's fall and earlier told how the teenager was just out of reach when he fell over the side of the cliff. He said there was nothing he could do to prevent the fall. The trouble began on June 10 as the pair summited the 14,505-foot peak of California's Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the continental United States. Zane suddenly starting feeling the affects of altitude sickness and began hallucinating while starting talking nonsense. 'He said, like those snow patches down there, they look like snowmen. Or those green lakes in the distance, I see Kermit the Frog and his friends and a few other random things. 'He told me he couldn't tell if he was dreaming or not.' said Ryan. 'And then he said he was going to the car. But the car was thousands of feet below us.' 'I've never seen anything like it,' Ryan told SFGate. 'He wasn't making sudden movements, but it was like he was sleepwalking. I didn't trust what he might do. Ryan said Zane's awareness of the hallucinations initially gave him some comfort. 'He was aware of it, which of course worried me, but he was still able to explain what was happening,' Ryan said. 'I thought, OK, maybe it'll pass.' But the clarity didn't last and suddenly Zane decided he simply wanted to stop. 'He's not a quitter. That's not him,' Ryan said. 'But then he just stopped. He said he didn't want to go on. It got worse - more frequent. He truly believed none of it was real.' Despite briefly seeming to recover, Zane's mental state suddenly deteriorated, culminating in a series of alarming statements before he wandered off the trail and plummeted over the side of the steep granite cliff. 'It was in the direction of the ledge. He thought it was right there, like the hike was over. 'I wiped my eyes for a second, and when I looked up, he was already 10 feet away. I reached out - but I couldn't get to him. And then he was gone.' The fall left Zane with a traumatic brain injury and happened as the pair had begun their descent via the Mount Whitney Trail, hours after completing the technically demanding Mountaineer's Route. The teen, who is nearly 5'9' and in peak physical condition having competed in triathlons, swimming, and distance running. As his father put it: 'He's in better shape than I am.' After the fall, Ryan scrambled down the jagged terrain to reach Zane's body, convinced his son had died on impact. 'I didn't see how there would be a way for him to survive it, so I screamed,' he said. 'I was yelling 'No!' I thought he was gone.' But when he reached Zane's body, miraculously there were still signs of life. 'I rolled him over and he grunted. He was still breathing.' An EMT who had passed by the pair earlier rushed to help, coordinating a rescue operation while Ryan remained with his unconscious son for a further six hours until a rescue helicopter arrived. The helicopter was seen as it made its approach to rescue the injured teen Zane was flown first to Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine and then on to Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas, the closest facility with a pediatric trauma unit. Miraculously, doctors say his only other injuries were a broken ankle, a fractured finger, and a fractured section of his pelvis. 'Doctors said it's miraculous,' Ryan said. 'It should have been so much worse.'
