The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to Orphalan’s Cuvrior (trientine tetrahydrochloride) for the treatment of Wilson’s disease, a rare genetic disorder. The approval announcement marks the first new treatment available for patients in over five decades.

Taiho Oncology Inc. and Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted for priority review the New Drug Application (NDA) for futibatinib in the treatment of patients with previously treated locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) harboring FGFR2 gene rearrangements, including gene fusions.

Hybrid versions of the coronavirus that combine genes from the Delta and Omicron variants – dubbed “Deltacron” – have been identified in at least 17 patients in the United States and Europe, researchers said. Additionally, new research adds to evidence that trained dogs could help screen crowds to identify people infected with the coronavirus.

Scientists pinpointed 16 new genetic variants in people who developed severe COVID-19 in a large study published on March 7 that could help researchers develop treatments for very sick patients.

Ventus Therapeutics, which is developing therapies aimed at diseases of the innate immune system, closed a $140 million Series C financing round that will be used to drive three lead programs into the clinic during 2022.

Alzheon posted positive results from the company’s Phase II biomarker trial on ALZ-801 (valiltramiprosate) in patients diagnosed with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. 

Scientists believe that Alzheimer’s disease is a potential cause of not just beta-amyloid accumulation, but also immune system dysfunction.

Speaking with French newspaper Le Figaro, Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said he believes the world will “return to normal life” sometime during the spring of 2022.

The World Health Organization updated WHO’s treatment guidelines for COVID-19 for the eighth time, recommending baricitinib for individuals with severe COVID-19 when used with corticosteroids. In other news, researchers from the Medical University of Bialystok in Poland identified a gene that appears to double the risk of severe COVID-19.

Loxo Oncology, part of Eli Lilly, partnered with Foghorn Therapeutics in a deal that enables the former to use the latter’s Gene Traffic Control platform to advance its pipeline of oncology medicines.