--- title: 'Clinical Daily Summary: What Happened on October 9, 2026' headline: Endeavor’s taladegib meets Phase IIb endpoints in pulmonary fibrosis description: Newron plans cardiac and genetic screening to address an FDA pause on US enrollment. Alpheus opened a study of ultrasound therapy for glioblastoma. url: https://thebench.bio/news/clinical/2026-10-09 topic: clinical date: '2026-10-09' covers: - '2026-10-09' date_published: '2026-10-09T12:02:18Z' date_modified: '2026-10-09T12:02:18Z' sources: 4 publisher: The Bench (thebench.bio) --- # Clinical Daily Summary: What Happened on October 9, 2026 **Endeavor’s taladegib meets Phase IIb endpoints in pulmonary fibrosis** Newron plans cardiac and genetic screening to address an FDA pause on US enrollment. Alpheus opened a study of ultrasound therapy for glioblastoma. ## Today in brief Endeavor BioMedicines said taladegib met the primary and several key secondary endpoints in a Phase IIb trial, improving lung-function measures versus placebo at 24 weeks. [1] Newron plans to propose cardiac and genetic screening to lift the FDA’s pause on US enrollment in its Phase 3 evenamide study, after the agency cited five deaths across clinical studies. [2] ## Taladegib improved lung-function measures in a Phase IIb fibrosis trial Endeavor BioMedicines said its Phase IIb WHISTLE-PF trial met its primary and several key secondary endpoints in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive lung-scarring disease. [1] Among 213 participants, taladegib significantly improved percent-predicted forced vital capacity compared with placebo at 24 weeks. [1] Forced vital capacity measures how much air a person can force out of the lungs. [1] The study also found advantages over placebo in absolute forced vital capacity and several lung-imaging measures. [1] Questionnaire scores improved numerically, but the trial was not designed to determine whether that difference was statistically significant. [1] Serious adverse events occurred at comparable rates in the taladegib and placebo groups, and tolerability was consistent with earlier research. [1] ## Newron proposes screening to address the FDA’s evenamide enrollment pause Newron Pharmaceuticals plans to ask the FDA to lift its US enrollment pause on the Phase 3 ENIGMA-TRS 2 study by screening participants for Brugada syndrome and other sodium-channel disorders, potentially with genetic tests. [2] The FDA first halted enrollment in April after a sudden death at a non-US site, then maintained the pause in September. [2] The agency cited five deaths across evenamide’s clinical studies, including four among people taking the drug and one among placebo recipients. [2] Newron executive Ravi Anand said the four patients taking evenamide had shown no heart symptoms or ECG abnormalities. [2] Anand described one patient choking while eating bread, months after a similar incident, and said neither Newron nor the FDA had identified an explanation for the deaths. [2] The FDA says a standard ECG cannot reliably rule out hidden sodium-channel disorders in people without symptoms. [2] The separate ENIGMA-TRS 1 study is unaffected by the pause and is expected to report its primary 12-week findings in the first quarter of 2027. [2] ## Also worth knowing - Alpheus Medical opened recruitment at Buffalo’s Dent Neurologic Institute for a study of its PoMA therapy, oral 5-ALA combined with low-intensity ultrasound, alongside standard care for newly diagnosed butterfly glioblastoma. [3] - Cardiovascular developers are reassessing secondary prevention after late-stage programs targeting IL-6, Lp(a), and Factor XI failed despite substantial genetic or biological support for those targets. [4] ## The day in numbers - **213**: Participants in Endeavor’s Phase IIb taladegib trial for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. [1] - **5**: Deaths cited across evenamide’s clinical studies, including four among drug recipients and one among a placebo recipient. [2] ## Also published - [Breaking Bipolar I disorder stigma in the Hispanic community](), pharmaphorum - [The Test Is the Ticket: Building Smarter Pathways to Clinical Trial Participation](), Applied Clinical Trials - [ACT Brief: RBQM Analysis Frequency, Building Trust in Oncology Data, and Rare Pediatric PRV Monetization](), Applied Clinical Trials - [Schizophrenia research grapples with trial design hurdles in hunt for new treatments](), Clinical Trials Arena ## Sources 1. [Endeavor’s Phase IIb IPF study of taladegib meets endpoints](), Clinical Trials Arena, 2026-10-09 2. [Newron plans heart tests to lift schizophrenia trial hold](), European Biotechnology, 2026-10-09 3. [Alpheus begins multi-centre study for butterfly GBM](), Clinical Trials Arena, 2026-10-09 4. [After cardiovascular misses, developers rethink secondary prevention](), BioCentury, 2026-10-09 --- The Bench wrote this from the reporting cited above, with a language model drafting and editing. [1]: [2]: [3]: [4]: