Raising $15.6 billion through 276 transactions, the biopharma industry has experienced a respectable first quarter (Q1) in terms of financings, with a 14% jump over last year and higher amounts than the first quarters of many pre-pandemic years. The financings compare with $13.7 billion raised through 253 transactions in 2022’s Q1. Private money remains the strongest source of capital in 2023, with venture capital bringing nearly 45% to the table and private investors in public companies bringing another 20%. IPOs in 2023, however, are embarrassingly low.

Merck, Eisai stumble again in their cancer collaboration

In the string of successes and frustrations generated by their five-year collaboration, Merck & Co. Inc. and Eisai Inc. can now add a few more frustrations. The companies are discontinuing the phase III LEAP-003 study of Keytruda plus Lenvima for first-line treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma because it did not improve overall survival (OS). Also, the phase III LEAP-017 trial evaluating the combination in unresectable and metastatic colorectal cancer did not meet its primary endpoint of OS.

Newco news: Mosaic collects $28M to find cancer targets and biomarkers

Two years after its formation, Mosaic Therapeutics Ltd. has raised $28 million in a series A to begin commercialization of research carried out by the Translational Cancer Genomics Lab at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, U.K., into the genetic vulnerabilities of multiple tumor types and how that impacts response to therapy. The company brings together huge cancer genomics datasets and advanced computational methods with experimental approaches in a way it says will “reshape the interface” between in silico analyses and early phase clinical research.

Base editing rescues spinal muscular atrophy in vivo

The editing in human cells and in mice of the survival motor neuron 1 gene (SMN1) restored the levels of SMN protein that the mutation of the SMN2 gene produces in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Scientists from the Broad Institute in Boston and Ohio State University reversed the mutation using the base editing technique. “This base editing approach to treating SMA should be applicable to all SMA patients, regardless of the specific mutation that caused their SMN1 loss,” the lead author David Liu, a professor and director of the Merkin Institute of Transformative Technologies in Healthcare at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, told BioWorld.

Nexcella advance draws more eyes to BCMA approach; Arcellx, Gracell also in play  

Word recently from Nexcella Inc. of progress in its potentially BLA-enabling phase Ib/IIa study with the BCMA-targeted, autologous CAR T therapy called NXC-201 for relapsed/refractory (r/r) multiple myeloma and r/r amyloid light chain amyloidosis reminded Wall Street favorably of the class, which has proven attractive to a handful of developers, including Arcellx Inc. and Gracell Biotechnologies Inc.

Holiday notice

BioWorld's offices were closed in observance of Good Friday. No issue was published April 7.

Also in the news

ABVC, Aldeyra, Anaptysbio, Astrazeneca, Astrocyte, Avacta, Aviceda, Biostage, Brim, Clearmind, CNS, Cocrystal, Curemark, Enanta, Erasca, Everest, Evopoint, Exevir, Geovax, Huidagene, JCR, MSD, Nervgen, Nona, Omeros, Onconova, Pear, Peptilogics, Quralis, Rallybio, Sensorion, Sumitomo, Tscan, Vega, Zymeworks