Pipeline Watch is a weekly snapshot of selected late-stage clinical trial events and approvals announced by pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical and industry conferences, in financial and company presentations, and in company releases and statements.

Denmark’s Lundbeck is aiming to build up use of its latest neurological, the long-acting migraine preventative, Vyepti, now that US healthcare is emerging from COVID-19-related restrictions, but is facing headwinds from loss of exclusivity on Northera.

Merck KGaA’s short-course oral MS therapy Mavenclad may gain a boost from new data suggesting its use does not affect the beneficial response of patients to COVID-19 vaccines, as the research and manufacturing reagents and solutions business unit of the diversified big pharma reported a strong first quarter due to pandemic-related demand.

Market Snapshot: Acute myeloid leukemia is a serious condition that affects people mainly in late middle age, for which there is a large R&D pipeline of candidate products being researched by pharmaceutical and biotech companies, many of whom are using a targeted medicine approach.

Advances in small activating RNAs, pioneered by MiNA Therapeutics, have caught the eye of Eli Lilly, and could be the next platform to exploit gene control mechanisms to produce a new therapeutic modality.

Also, deals involving AbCellera/Angios, AstraZeneca/Alchemab, Kowa/Esteve, OSE/Veloxis, Tris/Park, Core One/Akome and Vertex/Obsidian.