Presenting at conferences allows companies to showcase data on new drugs and secure licensing partners, as well as further investment by shareholders. But two presentations at the recent EHA conference had the opposite effect.

Gilead’s novel immune checkpoint inhibitor candidate, magrolimab, has been placed on a partial clinical hold by the US Food and Drug Administration in acute myeloid leukemia, adding to a spate of recent setbacks for the therapy that are chipping away at investor confidence.

With an FDA hold lifted and enrollment moving quickly, physicians are looking at how to combine magrolimab with other treatments in patients with TP53-mutated AML. 

Glenmark’s innovation subsidiary, Ichnos, highlights encouraging early data for lead bispecific antibody assets and hopes to accelerate these via licensing and partnership deals.The US-based arm also points to the tough biopharma financing market where investors are no longer satisfied with just the “preclinical story”.