News round-up for 25-29 November by DDW Senior Digital Content Editor Diana Spencer.

This week’s leading news stories all feature early-stage clinical trials, including a short interfering RNA for cardiovascular disease, a new type of drug for type 2 diabetes, a gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a T cell therapy for hepatitis B, and a monoclonal antibody to prevent respiratory syncytial virus.

The top stories:

Silence Therapeutics presents late-breaking Phase II data at AHA

Biotechnology company Silence Therapeutics has shared end-of-treatment data from its Phase II ALPACAR-360 study of short interfering RNA (siRNA) zerlasiran in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) patients with high lipoprotein levels.

Investments pave way for type 2 diabetes breakthrough 

French biotech AdipoPharma is developing a novel and promising type 2 diabetes drug, for which it has successfully secured the funding needed to begin Phase I clinical trials. The company expects to begin clinical trials in the US in mid-2025.

Gene therapy positively impacts Duchenne disease trajectory

AFFINITY DUCHENNE, a multi-centre, open-label trial of gene therapy RGX-202 for Duchenne muscular dystrophy has dosed its first patient, REGENXBIO has announced.

T cell therapy for HBV shows promising antiviral activity

SCG Cell Therapy has announced late-breaking data from its Phase I trial of SCG101, a first-in-class autologous hepatitis B virus (HBV)-specific T-cell receptor-engineered T cell (TCR-T) therapy targeting hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg).

Potential monoclonal antibody to prevent RSV enters human trials

Ark Biopharmaceutical (ArkBio) says it has successfully dosed all participants in a Phase I clinical study of AK0610, a fully human monoclonal antibody designed to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection.