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Clinical Daily Summary

Clinical Daily Summary: What Happened on October 12, 2026

AstraZeneca’s HICKORY trial misses its primary endpoint

The day also brought completed enrollment in a gene-therapy study, exploratory psoriasis biomarker findings and data on breast cancer care delays.

  • Updated
  • Read from 4 articles, 2 publications

Today in brief

AstraZeneca’s efzimfotase alfa failed to beat placebo on the primary walking-test measure in a Phase III hypophosphatasia trial, though some secondary analyses favored the drug.1

Perceive Bio finished enrolling 47 participants in its geographic atrophy gene-therapy study. Eli Lilly found wider biomarker shifts with Taltz plus Zepbound than with Taltz alone.23 Among 1,071 women diagnosed with breast cancer by age 40, lower-income participants and the youngest women were more likely to face care delays.4

AstraZeneca’s efzimfotase alfa misses HICKORY’s primary endpoint

AstraZeneca’s Phase III HICKORY trial of efzimfotase alfa missed its primary endpoint in adults and adolescents with hypophosphatasia who had not previously received Strensiq.1 After 25 weeks, participants on the drug improved by 17.05 meters on the six-minute walk test, while those on placebo improved more.1

In a post-hoc analysis, 45.2% of participants taking efzimfotase alfa reached the threshold for a clinically meaningful walking improvement, compared with more than 30% on placebo.1 AstraZeneca said the placebo group performed better than expected.1 Participants taking efzimfotase alfa also reported greater improvement in fatigue. Combined subgroups with childhood-onset disease showed nominal walking-test benefits.1

AstraZeneca said it would continue efforts to make efzimfotase alfa available to people with hypophosphatasia.1

Also worth knowing

  • Perceive Bio completed enrollment in its open-label Phase IIa JOURNEY study of VOY-101, with 94 eyes from 47 participants, above its original target of 62 eyes. The company expects topline results at 15 months in late 2027.2

  • At week 36, the combination arm showed changes across 482 proteins and 467 genes. Taltz alone showed changes across 140 proteins and 16 genes in the exploratory Phase IIIb analysis.3

  • Among 1,071 women diagnosed with breast cancer by age 40, researchers recorded presentation delays in 153, diagnostic delays in 120 and treatment delays in 228. Lower-income participants were more likely to delay seeking care, while delays were not independently linked to disease-free or overall survival.4

Also published