Umoja Biopharma Inc. has raised $210 million in a series B financing that will help it advance a pipeline of in vivo engineered CAR T-cell immunotherapies to the clinic, as well as build its internal manufacturing capabilities, it said. The Seattle-based company is focused on the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Softbank Vision Fund 2 and Cormorant Asset Management led the financing, the third largest series B round this year, according to BioWorld data. It follows a $53 million series A round the company announced in November 2020.

Biogen’s Nightstar buy questioned as depression drug makes progress in phase III

Biogen Inc. has announced contrasting results from phase III trials of therapies for a rare eye disease and depression, following last week’s controversial FDA approval of Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm. The Cambridge, Mass.-based firm said a phase III gene therapy study in the rare retinal disease choroideremia missed its primary and secondary endpoints, although the news was better from a potential therapy for major depressive disorder.

U.K. vaccine studies favor Pfizer shot, as AZ’s antibody flunks COVID-19 trial

There’s been a mixed bag of data from Astrazeneca plc’s efforts against COVID-19, after data suggested Pfizer Inc.’s rival vaccine is more effective against the Delta variant and the failure of a trial involving its long-acting antibody therapy.

Alentis’ $67M series B to advance Claudin-1-targeting antibody into clinic

LONDON – Alentis Therapeutics SA is now equipped to deliver initial proof of concept for its universal approach to treating fibrosis, after raising $67 million in an oversubscribed series B. That enables the Basel, Switzerland-based company to take the lead program into phase I in healthy volunteers before the end of 2021, and to move into patient trials in liver fibrosis and chronic kidney disease in 2023. In addition to targeting fibrosis, Alentis believes its tactic of neutralizing Claudin-1, a transmembrane protein involved in maintaining cellular integrity and controlling cell-to-cell signaling, will have potential in fibrosis-associated cancers.

Vectory taking gene therapy approach to Alzheimer’s with $37.6M seed round

LONDON – The pioneers of gene therapy in Europe now aim to take the field to the next level, moving into the development of virally delivered antibodies in the treatment of central nervous system and muscular diseases, with Alzheimer’s disease one of the first targets. Vectory, arrives on the scene with €31 million (US$37.6 million) in seed funding to establish preclinical proof of concept for vectorized antibodies treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.

Newco news: Onchilles looks for cancer’s Achilles heel with a $7M series A

Onchilles Pharma Inc. has raised a $7 million series A to develop therapeutics for activating an innate immune system pathway leading to universal anticancer activity independent of genetic mutation. The company’s research demonstrated that human, but not murine, neutrophils release catalytically active neutrophil elastase, killing cancer cells but leaving noncancer cells alone. Liberating the CD95 death domain is how Lev Becker, scientific founder of Onchilles, puts it. Lyzz Capital, of Shanghai and San Diego, is backing Onchilles. The series A includes $500,000 from the University of Chicago’s Startup Investment Fund.

G7 not wavering in support for voluntary licensing

Noticeably lacking in the G7 communique following its recent U.K. summit is support for a proposed World Trade Organization (WTO) waiver on intellectual property related to drugs and other medical products used to prevent, contain or treat COVID-19 infections. Instead, the communique reiterates the need for voluntary licensing and technology transfer on mutually agreed terms. The seven member countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. – committed to “engage constructively with discussions at the WTO on the role of intellectual property, including by working consistently within the TRIPS agreement and the 2001 Doha Declaration.”

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