Biotech Matters

As the Bluestar team prepares to head to ASCO 2024 this upcoming weekend, Bluestar Principal Jeff Fineberg sits down with Bluestar Managing Director Erin Olsen to talk about interesting abstracts related to two topics: What are the unmet needs in 1L therapy? The KRAS G12C mutation landscape

After attending ASN Kidney Week, Bluestar Principal Jeff Fineberg sits down with Dr. Pietro Canetta to talk all things IgA nephropathy (IgAN). After Dr. Canetta provides a brief summary of his IgAN lecture at Kidney Week, Emerging Therapeutic Options in IgA Nephropathy, the two discuss the Filspari (sparsentan) data presented from both the PROTECT study, in IgAN, the DUPLEX study, in FSGS. From there, Dr. Canetta opines on the value of surrogate endpoints in predicting the three D's of CKD: death, dialysis, and doubling of serum creatinine (SCr). Dr. Canetta briefly discusses Novartis' press release announcing the positive Phase II data with atrasentan, another ETA RA, before the conversation shifts to other drug classes and therapeutic targets, including SGLT2 inhibitors, and B-cell activation (i.e., APRIL/BAFF). Finally, Jeff asks Dr. Canetta about whether the recent advancements in IgAN are generalizable to other glomerular diseases, and what might be the determinants of this. Jump to specific topics in the conversation: 00:00 Recap + guest intro/bio + Kidney Week lecture summary 05:05 Filspari (sparsentan) trial results from PROTECT (IgAN) and DUPLEX (FSGS) 12:25 Value of surrogate endpoints in predicting three D's - death, dialysis, and doubling of SCr - in glomerular disease 19:55 Atrasentan press release 23:05 The "four-hit" hypothesis of IgAN pathogenesis and SGLT2i 26:10 B-cell activation (APRIL/BAFF) as a therapeutic approach in IgAN 31:55 Generalizability (and lack thereof) of therapeutic approaches to other glomerular diseases 37:25 Where to learn more Helpful links: PROTECT Study (Filspari/sparsentan in IgAN) DUPLEX Study (Filspari/sparsentan in FSGS) Novartis press release (atrasentan in IgAN) ENVISION Study (sibeprenlimab in IgAN) Columbia Glomerular Center For more information about Bluestar BioAdvisors, please visit our website.

In the first ever Biotech Matters podcast episode, Principal Jeff Fineberg, PhD, sits down with nephrologist Beatrice Goilav, MD, to talk all things Kidney Week. Dr. Goilav offers her thoughts on an ideal day-by-day itinerary, as well as her hopes for what will be presented at a variety of sessions, including drug trials in IgAN, and new studies of SGLT2 inhibitors. She also offers her perspective on the potential for complement inhibitors in glomerular diseases, and which of these drugs in development she is most interested in. Finally, she makes some recommendations on poster abstracts to visit in the exhibit hall. For more information about Bluestar BioAdvisors, please visit our website. Dr. Goilav hangs out on X (formerly known as Twitter) @BGoilav. Her DM is open to episode listeners with follow-on questions.