A U.S. FTC antitrust challenge to Amgen Inc.’s $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc could be a disruptor to biotech investment if the agency is victorious, analysts are warning. In announcing the suit, the FTC recognized it was breaking new ground in biopharma antitrust cases, but it said the action dovetails with other work it’s doing “in response to widespread complaints about rebates and fees paid by drug manufacturers to PBMs [pharmacy benefit managers] and other intermediaries to favor high-cost drugs at the expense of lower cost drugs.”

Scribe pens $1.5B-plus CRISPR tech deal with Lilly

Scribe Therapeutics Inc. is selling exclusive rights to its CRISPR-based technology to Prevail Therapeutics Inc. for a figure that could top $1.6 billion as the firms team up to develop genetic therapies for serious neurological and neuromuscular diseases. Prevail, Eli Lilly and Co.’s wholly owned subsidiary, will pay the Alameda, Calif.-based Scribe $75 million up front, which encompasses both equity investment and R&D funding costs, and potentially more than $1.5 billion in development and commercial milestone payments.

Lanova licenses ADC candidate for MM to Astrazeneca in $600M deal

In a deal worth as much as $600 million over time, Lanova Medicines Ltd. licensed exclusive global rights to Astrazeneca plc for LM-305, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting GPRC5D, for multiple myeloma. Lanova will receive up-front and near-term payments of up to $55 million and development and commercial milestone payments of up to $545 million, as well as tiered royalties on net sales worldwide.

Boundless Bio closes $100M series C round to target extrachromosomal-DNA-driven cancers

Boundless Bio Inc. raised $100 million in a series C round to continue its highly distinctive approach to cancer therapy, which is based on disrupting the functioning of highly amplified oncogenic extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) fragments. These circular genetic elements are not found in healthy cells – they are distinct from small circular DNAs that are common in human cells as the latter do not encode any gene products. But ecDNAs are common across a wide range of cancer types, and they play an influential role in their evolution.

$100M series A fuels optogenetics work in blindness-causing diseases

Ray Therapeutics Inc. pulled down an upsized and oversubscribed $100 million series A financing to pursue visual optogenetics, which uses gene therapy to deliver a light-sensitive protein to retinal cells. The round was led by Novo Holdings A/S, joined by Deerfield Management, Norwest Venture Partners, Platanus, MRL Ventures Fund, the therapeutics-focused corporate venture fund of Merck & Co. Inc., and existing investor 4BIO Capital. The money will advance programs that target blinding diseases.

Lianbio garners first Asian approval for Camzyos in Macau for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Shanghai and New Jersey-based Lianbio Co. Ltd. gained its first Asian approval in Macau for Camzyos (mavacamten/Myokardia Inc.) for treating adults with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM). Lianbio in-licensed mavacamten rights from Myokardia, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., in August 2020 for developing and commercializing mavacamten in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. Mavacamten was granted breakthrough therapy designation in China in February 2022 for patients with oHCM.

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