--- title: 'Clinical Daily Summary: What Happened on October 15, 2026' headline: Vanda pauses VQW-765 after Phase III anxiety trial misses endpoints description: Arrowhead reported tau reductions in healthy volunteers. Other updates covered an autism trial, a cancer study site and early work on vision loss. url: https://thebench.bio/news/clinical/2026-10-15 topic: clinical date: '2026-10-15' covers: - '2026-10-15' date_published: '2026-10-15T12:02:22Z' date_modified: '2026-10-15T12:02:22Z' tags: - Clinical - Industry sources: 7 publisher: TheBench.Bio --- # Clinical Daily Summary: What Happened on October 15, 2026 **Vanda pauses VQW-765 after Phase III anxiety trial misses endpoints** Arrowhead reported tau reductions in healthy volunteers. Other updates covered an autism trial, a cancer study site and early work on vision loss. ## Today in brief Vanda has put VQW-765’s clinical development on hold after a Phase III trial found no significant effect on acute social anxiety symptoms in women or the overall population. [1] The company is analyzing the full trial dataset. [1] Arrowhead said ARO-MAPT lowered total tau in healthy volunteers’ cerebrospinal fluid by a mean of up to 73%. [2] [3] ## Vanda pauses VQW-765 after Phase III trial misses both endpoints Vanda Pharmaceuticals paused clinical development of VQW-765 after a Phase III study failed to significantly reduce acute social anxiety symptoms among women, missing its primary endpoint. [1] The trial also found no significant anxiety reduction in the overall population, missing its key secondary endpoint. [1] Women taking VQW-765 had an average SUDS score of 65.6, compared with 66.0 on placebo. Across all participants, scores were 64.7 on the drug and 63.8 on placebo. [1] Vanda licensed the drug from Novartis in 2014 and is reviewing the complete trial dataset. [1] ## Arrowhead reports tau reduction with ARO-MAPT in healthy volunteers Arrowhead said ARO-MAPT reduced cerebrospinal-fluid total tau by a mean of up to 73% after under-the-skin dosing in healthy volunteers. [2] [3] In the Phase I/IIa study, researchers measured tau on day 105, 90 days after the final dose. [3] ARO-MAPT uses RNA interference, which suppresses a gene’s activity, to target MAPT and reduce production of tau protein forms. [3] The study’s second part is testing the drug in people with Alzheimer’s disease. The reported biomarker changes in healthy volunteers don’t establish an effect on symptoms or function. [2] [3] Arrowhead said the sustained effect at day 105 may support dosing every three months or less often. [3] The treatment was generally tolerated in the reported study, and most treatment-emergent adverse events were mild or Grade 1. [3] ## Also worth knowing - Pilatus Biosciences dosed the first patient at its Hong Kong site in a Phase I trial of PLT012 for hepatocellular carcinoma. The study began dosing in Houston in March 2026. [4] - Spinogenix added a Phase IIb idiopathic autism cohort to its CLARITY trial. The cohort will use EEG screening to enroll participants with elevated resting gamma-band power. [5] - Femtosecond laser imaging assessed lung tumor margins in under six minutes, compared with 36 minutes for the current method, and matched its accuracy in a study. [6] - A Phase 1 open-label trial evaluated an intravitreal optogenetic therapy for advanced retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited condition that causes progressive vision loss. [7] ## The day in numbers - **73%**: Maximum mean reduction in cerebrospinal-fluid total tau reported with ARO-MAPT in healthy volunteers. [2] [3] - **Under 6 minutes**: Time femtosecond laser imaging took to assess lung tumor margins, compared with 36 minutes for the standard method. [6] ## Also published - [GLP-1 drugs linked to reduced acute schizophrenia episodes](), pharmaphorum - [ACT Brief: EHR-to-EDC Connectivity, FDA’s Rare Disease Framework, and Barriers to Oncology RWE](), Applied Clinical Trials - [Why clinical trials lose a quarter of their patients before enrolment](), pharmaphorum - [Beyond recruitment: Creating patient engagement that lasts](), pharmaphorum - [Compass Pathways CEO: Psychedelics company will ‘go slow before we go fast’](), STAT Biotech - [\Hidden race disparities in cancer treatment toxicity\](), Nature Medicine - [Experimental Arrowhead RNAi drug hints at Alzheimer’s benefit](), BioPharma Dive ## Sources 1. [Vanda puts anxiety drug’s development on ice after Phase III fail ](), Clinical Trials Arena, 2026-10-15 2. [Arrowhead’s brain shuttle milestone meets tau’s dose dilemma](), BioCentury, 2026-10-15 3. [Arrowhead’s Alzheimer’s disease drug reduces tau in Phase I/IIa trial](), Clinical Trials Arena, 2026-10-14 4. [Pilatus doses first patient in Phase I PLT012 trial for HCC](), Clinical Trials Arena, 2026-10-15 5. [Spinogenix adds Phase IIb autism study to CLARITY basket trial](), Clinical Trials Arena, 2026-10-15 6. [Femtosecond laser cuts lung tumour margin assessment time](), Pharmafile, 2026-10-15 7. [\Optogenetic therapy shows early promise for treating retinitis pigmentosa\](), Nature Medicine, 2026-10-15 --- TheBench.Bio wrote this from the reporting cited above, with a language model drafting and editing. [1]: [2]: [3]: [4]: [5]: [6]: [7]: