Daily briefings
Editor’s Briefing: November 3, 2026
In Short. Tiziana Life Sciences said a nasal antibody spray reduced brain inflammation in a small trial in progressive multiple sclerosis. America’s drug regulator also cleared a low-cost generic HIV prevention shot for poorer countries.
Tiziana reports a nasal antibody trial in progressive multiple sclerosis
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MS) is a disease in which the immune system damages the brain and spinal cord. In its non-active secondary progressive form, disability grows slowly without flare-ups, and no drug is approved for it in America. On Monday Tiziana Life Sciences gave top-line results, the first headline figures, from INFORM-MS, a trial of foralumab, an antibody sprayed into the nose to calm immune cells (Tiziana release). The principal investigator is Tanuja Chitnis of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The trial assigned 48 patients at random to placebo or one of two doses for 12 weeks. Brain scans of microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, showed less activation at the 50-microgram dose than with placebo, but the 100-microgram dose showed no significant difference. All 48 patients finished treatment, and the company reported no drug-related serious side effects.
America’s drug regulator clears a generic HIV prevention shot for poorer countries
Lenacapavir is an injection, given twice a year, that lowers the risk of catching HIV through sex. Gilead Sciences sells it in America and licensed it to generic makers for poorer countries in 2024. On Monday Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, an Indian drug maker, said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given its version tentative approval under PEPFAR, an American program that buys HIV medicines abroad (Dr. Reddy’s release). A tentative approval confirms that a drug meets the agency’s standards but does not allow sales in America. The shot is for adults and adolescents weighing at least 35 kilograms. Under an agreement with Unitaid and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, it will cost $40 per person per year in 120 countries. The company expects the first supplies to arrive before the end of 2026, with wider supply in 2027.
Emergent BioSolutions reports lower quarterly sales
Emergent BioSolutions makes vaccines and treatments that governments stockpile against biological threats such as anthrax and smallpox, as well as NARCAN, a nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses. On Monday evening it reported results for the quarter to September 30th in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Emergent filing). Revenue was $110.0m, down from $231.1m a year earlier, and the company recorded a net loss of $32.7m. Sales of naloxone products, the drug in NARCAN, fell by 42%, which the company attributed mainly to lower over-the-counter sales of NARCAN. The company also said Rich Lindahl, its chief financial officer, will retire at the end of 2026. It has bought back $75m in face value of its unsecured bonds and received a contract change worth about $24m for its anthrax vaccine, CYFENDUS.
Revvity reports higher quarterly revenue
Revvity, a company based in Waltham, Massachusetts, sells laboratory instruments and reagents for drug research as well as tests for clinical diagnostics, such as newborn screening. On Tuesday morning it reported results for the quarter that ended on October 4th (Revvity release). Revenue was $729m, compared with $699m in the same quarter a year earlier. Sales in its life sciences unit, which serves drug researchers, rose to $380m from $343m. Sales in its diagnostics unit fell to $349m from $356m. The company is selling its immunodiagnostics business in China, which made up about 6% of revenue in 2025, and expects that sale to close by the end of 2027. It increased its forecast for the full year and will hold a meeting for investors on November 13th.
What to watch
Tiziana plans to present the full INFORM-MS results at a scientific meeting and to discuss with the FDA how the drug might be tested further in progressive MS. The agency is due to decide by November 14th on ivonescimab, a lung cancer antibody from Summit Therapeutics, and by November 27th on BridgeBio Pharma’s BBP-418 for a form of muscular dystrophy. Precigen, which sells PAPZIMEOS for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, a rare disease of growths in the airway, reports quarterly results on Wednesday, after the FDA approved a rival treatment from Inovio last week. Revvity will describe its plans in more detail at its investor meeting on November 13th, and Dr. Reddy’s expects its first shipments of lenacapavir to reach countries before the year ends.