UK-based Ochre Bio has signed its first major deal with Boehringer Ingelheim. Scrip talked to its co-founder and CEO, Jack O’Meara, about its human tissue-based drug discovery platform, its resulting RNA platform for liver disease and how the fledgling drug company's early work mirrored that seen in diagnostics.

The agency is also poised to announce another development in its scrutiny of the drug patents listed in the FDA’s Orange Book.

Still a clinical-stage company, Viking is studying promising candidates for both obesity and MASH in Phase II, but may need to prioritize one while partnering the other.

Seven novel agents approved in March include one accelerated approval, two rare pediatric disease priority review vouchers, two breakthrough therapy designations and one regenerative medicine advance therapy designation.