Editor’s Briefing: November 2, 2026

In Short. InventisBio said its daily pill for psoriasis cleared most skin plaques in more than 70% of patients in a late-stage trial. Bambusa Therapeutics sold shares to the public for the first time.

InventisBio reports a late-stage psoriasis trial

PLAQUE PSORIASIS is an immune disease that leaves thick, scaly patches on the skin. InventisBio, a Shanghai company, makes nomelcitinib, a pill that blocks TYK2, an enzyme that passes inflammatory signals inside immune cells. On Monday it gave top-line results, the first headline figures, from a phase 3 trial, the large stage that usually precedes an application for approval (InventisBio release). The trial assigned 391 patients at random to one of two doses or a placebo, a dummy pill. After 16 weeks, more than 70% of patients in both drug groups had seen their psoriasis score fall by at least 90%, which the company said was well above the placebo group. On a second measure, a doctor’s rating of skin that was clear or almost clear, both drug groups passed 80%. The company reported no new safety problems. The company did not give the placebo figures, and it is also running an earlier-stage phase 2 trial in America.

Bambusa begins trading after its first share sale

Bambusa Therapeutics is developing bispecific antibodies, single molecules built to grip two disease targets at once, for inflammatory conditions of the skin, lungs and gut. Its two lead candidates came from a Chinese subsidiary of BioNTech, a German drug maker. On Friday afternoon it filed the final prospectus for its initial public offering, its first sale of shares on a stock exchange (Bambusa prospectus). It sold 10,555,555 shares at $16 each, for about $168.9m before fees. The company expects net proceeds of about $152.4m after underwriting discounts and expenses. Its shares trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol BBTX. Aspen Neuroscience, whose listing was covered here on Friday, sold its shares in the same week.

Summit’s lung cancer antibody draws partners before an FDA decision

Ivonescimab, from Summit Therapeutics and its Chinese partner Akeso, is a bispecific antibody that blocks two targets. One is PD-1, a switch that tumors use to quiet immune cells. The other is VEGF, a signal that helps tumors grow blood vessels. A BioSpace report on Monday counted the drug makers that have agreed to test their own medicines alongside it, among them AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Revolution Medicines (BioSpace). AstraZeneca has also put $2 billion into Summit’s shares. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is due to decide by November 14th whether to approve the drug for non-small-cell lung cancer, the most common form, in patients who have already been treated. Summit expects results before the end of the year from HARMONi-3, a trial comparing the drug with Merck’s Keytruda as the first treatment.

BridgeBio prepares for a muscle disease decision

Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2I/R9 is an inherited disease that weakens the muscles of the hips and shoulders. A faulty gene, FKRP, stops cells from attaching sugars to a muscle protein, so muscle fibers are damaged over time. BridgeBio Pharma’s BBP-418 is a pill meant to restore that process. According to BioSpace on Monday, the FDA has set a decision date of November 27th and has not called an advisory committee, a panel of outside experts (BioSpace). In the FORTIFY trial of 112 patients, treated patients finished a 100-meter timed test 31 seconds faster than those on placebo after 12 months. The company already sells Attruby, a heart drug approved in 2024, and says it has identified more than 500 likely patients in America. No treatment is approved for the disease.

What to watch

The FDA’s decision on ivonescimab is due by November 14th and its decision on BBP-418 by November 27th. InventisBio is also running a second phase 3 psoriasis trial that compares nomelcitinib directly with deucravacitinib, an approved TYK2 pill, and has not said when it will report.