Gene therapy developer Beam Therapeutics Inc. has acquired drug delivery specialist Guide Therapeutics Inc. in a deal valued at up to $440 million. Guide's lipid nanoparticle screening technology could help Beam's medicines reach new targets beyond the liver, delivering "a significant expansion" of the company's ongoing investment in delivery technologies, CEO John Evans said. Terms of the deal included $120 million up front, plus up to $320 million in stock-based technology and product success milestone payments. Shares in Beam (NASDAQ:BEAM) fell 13.4% by midday.

Clover bags $230M in series C, moves COVID-19 vaccine to phase II/III

Chengdu-based Sichuan Clover Biopharmaceuticals Inc., known for its Trimer-Tag technology, raised $230 million in a series C financing round. The proceeds will, most notably, help it advance its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, S-Trimer (SCB-2019), to a global phase II/III trial by June. Following its $43 million series B round in December 2019, Clover said on Tuesday, Feb. 23, that it raised more than $400 million in the last 12 months.

Price transparency emphasized in Becerra’s first Senate hearing for HHS job

The first Senate hearing for the nomination of Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services included the predictable questions about his qualifications, given his position as attorney general for the state of California. However, the candidate repeatedly emphasized price transparency for both hospitals and drug manufacturers, the latter of which are still laboring under the perception that price gouging is a common practice.

In congressional update, vaccine makers stress manufacturing complexity

In the shadow of the COVID-19-related deaths of half a million Americans and far more deaths across the world, the Biden administration is reportedly rethinking its position on a World Trade Organization proposal to waive intellectual property (IP) protection for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Top officials for five companies developing the vaccines for the U.S. market argued against the proposal Feb. 23 as they gave the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight an update on their vaccine programs. They stressed the complexity of manufacturing and the need to ensure the quality of the end product, while reiterating their commitment to ensure global access. IP is not the limitation to global access, said Richard Nettles, vice president of medical affairs at Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos.

China pushes on with vaccine efforts, with 16 candidates approved for trials

HONG KONG – China is steadily greenlighting more COVID-19 vaccines and drugs to go deeper into the clinic, giving the country a growing arsenal against the disease. To date, China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved a handful of drugs and 16 domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine candidates for trials, up from 11 in September 2020.

Australian researchers identify potential treatment for fatal brain cancer in children

PERTH, Australia – The fight against diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) may finally see some progress, after experiments using 3D models of the tumor in animal studies showed that a combination therapy of the polyamine inhibitor AMXT-1501 (Aminex Therapeutics Inc.) and the ornithine decarboxylase 1 inhibitor difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) could eradicate cancer cells. Published in the Feb. 12, 2021, issue of Nature Communications, the preclinical study in mouse models showed that the combination therapy led to survival in two-thirds of the mice, and the drug combination completely halted growth of those highly aggressive tumors.

Oral next-gen SERDs on the march in post-Faslodex world

During its recent conference call on fourth-quarter earnings, Astrazeneca plc officials talked up its selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD), camizestrant, which has entered pivotal phase III trials in breast cancer (BC). It was Cambridge, U.K.-based Astrazeneca that gained approval in 2002 of the first SERD, injected Faslodex (fulvestrant) for hormone receptor-positive metastatic BC in postmenopausal women whose disease progressed after antiestrogen therapy. The company’s move with camizestrant, also known as AZD-9833, makes four SERDs in late-stage development. Others are in the hands of Radius Health Inc., Roche Holding AG and Sanofi SA.

Newco news: Asalyxa raises a seed financing to develop an ARDS therapy

Asalyxa Bio Inc., of Ann Arbor, Mich., has closed on an oversubscribed seed financing of more than $2 million designed to advance its lead candidate, ASX-100, into the clinic in acute respiratory distress syndrome. The company platform, based on research conducted at the University of Michigan, enables targeted delivery to neutrophils and other immune cells. Those inflammatory mechanisms could also lead the company to develop therapies for other indications. The financing was led by Research Bridge Partners and co-led by ID Ventures. Other investors included Michigan Rise Pre-Seed Fund III, BRCC of Western Michigan University, Ann Arbor Spark and Woodward Angels.

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