Mexico aims to avoid reciprocal tariffs on U.S

 Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed her government’s desire to avoid imposing reciprocal tariffs on the United States on Monday. Despite this, she also acknowledged that such an action could not be completely dismissed.

This comes in response to President Trump’s recent warning that any country that retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional tariffs will be met with new and substantially higher tariffs. This is part of his strategy to counter what he perceives as long term tariff abuse by other nations.

President Trump also announced that negotiations with countries seeking discussions will commence immediately. However, these talks will exclude China, as Trump intends to impose additional tariffs on the Asian nation. This is part of ongoing trade tensions between the two largest economies in the world.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/mexico-aims-to-avoid-reciprocal-tariffs-on-us-amid-trade-tensions-93CH-3971591

Von der Leyen offers Trump 'zero-for-zero' tariffs deal on all industrial goods

 

"Europe is always ready for a good deal," Ursula von der Leyen says as trade tensions with the United States reach all-time high.

The European Commission has offered the United States a deal to remove tariffs on all industrial goods as part of the trade negotiations, Ursula von der Leyen has said while stressing her intention to retaliate against Donald Trump's policies should talks fail.

Trump has announced a 20% across-the-board tariff on imports from the European Union, set to take effect on 9 April. Steel, aluminum and cars are subject to a separate 25% rate. In total, over €380 billion in EU-made products will be affected.

Pharmaceuticals, copper, lumber, semiconductors and energy have been exempted.

"We stand ready to negotiate with the US. Indeed, we have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners," the Commission president said on Monday afternoon.

"Because Europe is always ready for a good deal. So we keep it on the table. But we are also prepared to respond through countermeasures and defend our interests."

The "zero-for-zero" deal was offered in the past "repeatedly" for the automotive sector, von der Leyen said, "but there was no adequate reaction" from Washington.

The Commission expanded the pitch to all industrial goods in recent days as talks intensified, a spokesperson said. No further details were provided.

"We prefer to have a negotiated solution," von der Leyen said, warning her executive will use "all instruments" available to hit back "if necessary," including an anti-coercion instrument that was introduced in 2023 but which has never been triggered.

Von der Leyen described Trump's sweeping tariffs as a "major turning point for the United States" that would have "immense costs" for American consumers and businesses alike and deliver a "massive" blow to the global economy.

While Washington has described the tariffs as "reciprocal", Brussels has dismissed its logic as "neither credible nor justified".

Besides the immediate impact on EU-US trade flows, which puts billions at risk of being wiped off, the Commission is also concerned about the potential ramifications that Trump's decision will have on international commerce – in particular on Asia.

Asian countries have been hit with higher rates than the bloc: 24% for Malaysia, 26% for India, 32% for Indonesia, 36% for Thailand, 46% for Vietnam, 48% for Laos and 49% for Cambodia, among others. China was slapped with a 34% "reciprocal" tariff on top of a previous 20% rate, for a whopping 54% in total. (Beijing has already hit back.)

The levels are so prohibitive that Brussels fears Asian countries, whose economies depend on exports, will be locked out of the American market and reroute their products to Europe as an alternative. China is a particular cause of concern, as it is already under intense scrutiny for flooding the West with low-cost, heavily subsidised goods.

During her intervention on Monday, von der Leyen announced the creation of a new "task force" to closely monitor the changes in global commerce.

"We will also protect ourselves against indirect effects through trade diversion. For this purpose, we will set up an 'Import Surveillance Task Force'," she said. "We look at what are the historical imports that we have and had and (whether) there is any specific surge all of a sudden of a certain product or in a certain sector that we have to act on."

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/04/07/von-der-leyen-offers-trump-zero-for-zero-tariffs-deal-on-all-industrial-goods

ALX Oncology advances new cancer drug into Phase 1

 ALX Oncology Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXO), a biotech firm focused on cancer immunotherapies, has announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ALX2004, a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) aimed at treating solid tumors expressing the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). The company plans to commence Phase 1 clinical trials of ALX2004 in mid-2025, with initial safety data expected in the first half of 2026. ALX Oncology maintains a strong liquidity position with a current ratio of 7.26, indicating robust short-term financial stability as it advances its clinical programs.

ALX2004 represents the company’s first ADC and the first drug candidate to emerge from its proprietary linker-payload platform. The molecule has been designed to deliver chemotherapy directly to tumor cells, potentially reducing systemic toxicity. In preclinical models, ALX2004 showed potent anti-tumor activity, suggesting it could be a significant addition to ALX Oncology’s clinical pipeline.

The company’s CEO, Jason Lettmann, highlighted the meticulous design of ALX2004, which includes an antibody backbone, a stable linker, and a proprietary topoisomerase I inhibitor payload. This design aims to optimize the targeted delivery and enhance the bystander effect, which may improve outcomes for patients with EGFR-expressing tumors. The company’s development efforts are supported by a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, reflecting a conservative financial structure. 

EGFR overexpression is common in several tumor types, including breast cancer, colorectal carcinoma, and non-small cell lung cancer. EGFR has been clinically validated as a therapeutic target with several FDA-approved antibodies and small molecules. However, there are no approved EGFR-targeted ADCs currently on the market due to previous limitations in drug design and toxicities.

https://www.investing.com/news/company-news/alx-oncology-advances-new-cancer-drug-into-phase-1-trials-93CH-3970563

Allogene gets triple fast track

Allogene Therapeutics (ALLO) has received three FDA Fast Track Designations for ALLO-329, a next-generation dual-targeted CD19/CD70 allogeneic CAR T therapy. The designations cover treatments for systemic lupus erythematous (SLE), idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM), and diffuse systemic sclerosis (SSc).

The company plans to initiate the Phase 1 RESOLUTION basket trial in mid-2025, with initial proof-of-concept expected by year-end 2025. The trial will evaluate ALLO-329's safety and preliminary efficacy using the proprietary Dagger® technology, which aims to reduce or eliminate lymphodepletion requirements. The study includes two lymphodepletion arms: one using cyclophosphamide alone and another without lymphodepletion.

https://www.stocktitan.net/news/ALLO/allogene-granted-three-u-s-fda-fast-track-designations-ftd-for-allo-7acni49t1xp9.html

Roche preps phase 3 for 'Brainshuttle' Alzheimer's drug

 Buoyed by new results from a phase 1b/2a trial, Roche has said it plans to start a phase 3 programme for an Alzheimer's disease candidate from its Brainshuttle programme, a technology designed to help large molecules enter the central nervous system.

The drug, called trontinemab, showed in the study that it could achieve rapid and deep reductions in amyloid beta plaques in the brain, one of the characteristics of Alzheimer's. Roche said its profile suggests it could offer an advance on the current generation of amyloid-targeting drugs.

It also validates the company's Brainshuttle antibody engineering platform, which adds a "side chain" to antibodies that binds to receptors on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) – designed to protect the brain from toxins and pathogens – and allows them to make it into the CNS.

It has been found that less than 1% of some anti-amyloid antibodies end up in the CNS where they can exert their activity, but Roche has estimated that it can improve that by 50 times or more.

Preliminary results from the 111-subject study revealed that a 3.6mg/kg dose of trontinemab reduced amyloid levels below the 24 centiloid threshold – a commonly used cutoff point used to predict whether a patient is likely to go on to develop Alzheimer's dementia – in 81% of participants after 28 weeks.

"Based on data in the field, both the speed of amyloid lowering, and the ability to lower below the amyloid positivity threshold early on, are important to achieve clinically meaningful benefit in early Alzheimer's disease," said Roche in a statement on the results, which were presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases in Vienna, Austria.

The reduction in amyloid was accompanied by reductions in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma of other biomarkers of Alzheimer's, including total tau, phosphorylated Tau (pTau181 and pTau217), and neurogranin.

Moreover, trontinemab was also associated with a lower rate of an amyloid-related imaging abnormality (ARIA) side effect, brain swelling, than the two approved anti-amyloid drugs – Eisai/Biogen's Leqembi (lecanemab) and Eli Lilly's Kisunla (donanemab). ARIA was seen in less than 5% of patients treated with trontinemab, with all cases mild and all but one asymptomatic.

Roche has been attempting to develop an Alzheimer's drug for some time, and its first attempts with two other anti-amyloid antibodies – crenezumab and gantenerumab – ended in failure.

Since then, the launch of Leqembi and Kisunla has renewed interest in the anti-amyloid approach, although early take-up of the new drugs has been slow due to their modest efficacy and potential to cause serious side effects.

https://pharmaphorum.com/news/roche-preps-phase-3-brainshuttle-alzheimers-drug

White House says ‘Fake News’ that Trump is considering 90-day pause

 

• The White House says any suggestion that President Donald Trump is considering a 90-day pause in tariffs is “fake news.”
• U.S. markets opened sharply lower Monday for a third trading session, as Trump’s tariffs paralyze global trade and investment.
• Asian markets plunged overnight, with stock indexes in Singapore, Australia, Japan, South Korea and India all suffering losses.
• European Union President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is willing to negotiate with the U.S. on tariffs but also said the bloc will prepare to retaliate.
• Billionaire Trump backer Bill Ackman says America is on the brink of an “economic nuclear winter” due to tariffs.
• DOGE chief Elon Musk and top Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro continued a war of words and tweets over free trade.
• Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of his closest allies, at the White House Monday.
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick insists that tariffs will not be postponed, and will “stay in place for days and weeks.”
• https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/07/trump-tariffs-live-updates-stock-market-crypto.html

Centessa’s Narcolepsy Drug Shows ‘Compelling’ Effect in Early Study

 

Analysts at BMO Capital Markets said Centessa’s orexin receptor agonist has “best-in-class” potential for narcolepsy, putting the company in a strong position in the $15 billion market.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals’ investigational orexin receptor agonist ORX750 promotes wakefulness in sleep-deprived healthy volunteers, pointing to its potential as a treatment for narcolepsy and other sleep disorders, according to a Phase I readout on Saturday.

In a note to investors, analysts at Leerink Partners called ORX750’s signals of efficacy “compelling,” pointing to its “significant improvements in mean sleep latency … and subjective alertness” compared to placebo. This readout, according to Leerink, “reinforces ORX750 as a potentially best-in-class OX2R agonist relative to competitors.”

Centessa’s data, presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology over the weekend, showed that patients treated with 5 mg of ORX750, taken orally, had mean sleep latency, a measurement of how long it takes a patient to fall asleep, of 37.9 minutes, whereas sleep was delayed by an average of 15.3 minutes in placebo comparators. The treatment difference of 22.6 minutes was highly statistically significant, according to Centessa’s presentation.

Patients on ORX750 were likewise significantly more alert during the day than those on placebo, measured at least three hours after dosing.

ORX750 also had a largely clean safety profile, with treatment-emergent adverse events being mild or moderate in severity. Side effects were transient and resolved without needing medical intervention.

BMO Capital Markets agreed in a Sunday note that these data position ORX750 as a “best-in-class” therapy for narcolepsy, with a “strong/differentiated effect even at 8hrs post-dosing.” BMO analysts also put Centessa’s cash runway at about $480 million, which they said will drive a Phase II readout for ORX750 sometime in 2025 and take the company into 2027.

BMO added that this best-in-class potential “renders [Centessa] an M&A target,” particularly for pharma companies already involved in sleep disorders in the $15 billion market.

Beyond these Phase I data, Centessa is also building toward a Phase II readout for ORX750 this year, which BMO also expects to “demonstrate best-in-class” performance—or the “safest profile, with the lowest dose amount,” —across multiple types of narcolepsy. In turn, ORX750 could drive a 30% to 50% upside for Centessa this year, as per the Sunday note.

Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder involving dysfunctional sleep-wake cycles and most commonly manifests as daytime sleepiness. There are two main types of narcolepsy based on the presence of cataplexy, or sudden muscle weakness: type 1, which involves excessive sleepiness with cataplexy, and type 2, which does not involve cataplexy.

ORX750 works by binding to and activating the orexin receptor 2, a protein in the brain involved in maintaining wakefulness. According to Centessa’s website, its orexin receptor agonists are designed to target the underlying cause of narcolepsy, easing excessive sleepiness, while also demonstrating potential for other symptoms such as inattention, cognitive deficit and fatigue.

https://www.biospace.com/drug-development/centessas-narcolepsy-drug-shows-compelling-effect-in-early-study