Sanofi Ends Deal With Maze For Rare Disease Drug After FTC Monopoly Suit

Axios: Sanofi Scraps $750 Million Drug Deal, After FTC Sues On Antitrust Grounds
French pharma company Sanofi scrapped a $750 million drug licensing deal with California-based Maze Therapeutics, just hours after the FTC sued to block the arrangement. This is a significant, and de facto successful, expansion of the Biden administration's "killer acquisition" theory, to a drug that's still in the early stages of development. (Primack, 12/12)

Stat: Maze CEO ‘Disappointed’ In Sanofi Decision To End Partnership
When Sanofi terminated its partnership with Maze Therapeutics this week to develop an experimental drug for Pompe disease, Maze CEO Jason Coloma did not learn the news in a conference call with the French pharma giant or even an email. He found out when Sanofi issued a public statement. (Feuerstein, 12/12)

Reuters: Pfizer Gets OK For $43-Billion Seagen Deal After Donating Cancer Drug Rights
Pfizer said on Tuesday it expects to close its $43 billion deal to buy cancer drugmaker Seagen later this week and plans to create a new oncology division that includes the acquisition early next year. Pfizer also said Chief Commercial Officer Angela Hwang would step down, and that it will split the its commercial business, not including oncology, into two divisions, one focused on the United States and the other on the rest of the world. (Erman and Mishra, 12/12)

In other pharmaceutical developments —

Stat: More Sickle Cell Patients Might Benefit From Bone Marrow Transplant 
The sickle cell community has for the past few days been buzzing with news of the first-ever approved gene therapies for the devastating disease. Meanwhile, researchers at the American Society of Hematology meeting on Tuesday are reporting advances in a less expensive and more established strategy proven to cure patients: bone marrow transplant. (Wosen, 12/12)

Stat: Can Sickle Cell One Day Be Treated Not With CRISPR, But With Pills?
Two gene therapies were approved for sickle cell disease last week, but for many researchers the Holy Grail remains something far more modest: A pill. Only the pharmacists’ oldest tool, they say, can actually have an impact on the scale of sickle cell. The gene therapies, with the risks and hospital stays and bespoke manufacturing they entail, won’t be an option for the vast majority of U.S. patients or for virtually any of the 20 million patients across the Global South. A pill could be distributed everywhere, as HIV medicines are. (Mast, 12/13)

Reuters: US Diabetes Patients Face Delays As Insurers Tighten Ozempic Coverage 
Some patients with type 2 diabetes say they are having more difficulty getting reimbursed for drugs like Ozempic as U.S. insurers implement restrictions designed to deter doctors from prescribing the medication for weight loss. Novo Nordisk confirmed in a recent email that it is seeing tighter health plan management of GLP-1 drugs including Ozempic and is working to minimize disruption for type 2 diabetes patients. The trend has contributed to a recent dip in U.S. prescriptions, an executive at the Danish drugmaker said at an investor conference last month. (Beasley, 12/12)

Stat: Leukemia Patients Are Helped By Syndax's New Type Of Therapy 
One of the toughest subtypes of acute leukemia involves a genetic alteration in the KMT2A gene. Many cancers with this genetic alteration end up relapsing or don’t respond to treatment, but new data presented at the annual American Society of Hematology meeting offer hope of a new targeted therapy for these patients. (Chen, 12/12)

Stat: Why A Gene Therapy For Beta Thalassemia Is A Slow-Moving Miracle
The meds Shelby Campbell needed for her rare blood disorder stopped working just after her sixth birthday. She lost her appetite and was often doubled over in pain. She continued getting blood transfusions but her doctors struggled to manage side effects that threatened her organs. By the time she turned 7, the doctors told her parents they had to do something — soon. (Trang, 12/13)