Roche culls 2 COVID-19 drug hopefuls amid Q1 clear-out

Roche has cut a series of experimental lung drugs from its pipeline, including two midstage COVID-19 assets.

The first drug, an Amgen-licensed anti-ST2 antibody known as astegolimab (aka RG6149), works by stopping the binding of IL-33 to ST2. This has already flopped in asthma, like so many other IL-33s, but the Swiss giant thought it could help COVID patients with pneumonia.