GSK licensed to Alfasigma global rights to linerixibat, a drug developed to treat the rare liver disease primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). The move follows Alfasigma’s 2025 voluntary market withdrawal of Ocaliva, a PBC drug that had sparked safety concerns from U.S. and European regulators.
Intercept Pharmaceuticals is voluntarily withdrawing from the market Ocaliva, a drug for the rare liver disease primary biliary cholangitis. While Ocaliva became an important new treatment option when it won accelerated FDA approval in 2016, PBC patients now have new FDA-approved medicines from Ipsen and Gilead Sciences that don’t pose the same safety risks.
MedCity News was at the Vive conference and spoke with executives who shared their insights for the healthcare industry.
Livdelzi is now FDA-approved for treating the rare liver disease primary biliary cholangitis. Gilead Sciences added the drug to its pipeline via the $4.3 billion acquisition of CymaBay Therapeutics earlier this year.
Iqirvo failed as a treatment for the fatty liver disease MASH, but the drug is now FDA approved in primary biliary cholangitis. An Intercept Pharmaceuticals drug already treats this rare liver disease and Gilead Sciences is poised to compete with its PBC drug approaching an FDA decision this summer.
Acquiring CymaBay Therapeutics gives Gilead Sciences another drug for its liver disease portfolio. CymaBay’s molecule, seladelpar, is under FDA review for treating primary biliary cholangitis, a rare disease affecting the bile ducts of the liver.
Ipsen is paying €120 million up front to acquire global rights to elafibranor, a Genfit drug that fell short as a treatment for NASH, but is currently in Phase 3 testing in another liver disease, primary biliary cholangitis. Meanwhile, Genfit is adding an early-stage drug candidate to its own pipeline via a separate transaction.
Arbiter’s Anjali Jameson on hospital and payer alignment.
The company said it was formally terminating the Phase III study of the drug elafibranor in NASH and refocus its development of the drug on another disease, primary biliary cholangitis, as well as a diagnostic for NASH.