Median overall survival estimates for Roche Holding AG’s phase III Skyscraper-01 study testing anti-TIGIT candidate tiragolumab with anti-PD-L1 antibody Tecentriq (atezolizumab) in non-small-cell lung cancer might not have been ready for prime time. But an accidental disclosure of a second interim analysis was enough to boost competitors in the TIGIT space, which has been hammered by negative news of late.

Rapport Therapeutics adds $150M in B round to accelerate push into precision neuromedicine

Rapport Therapeutics Inc. raised $150 million in a series B round, less than six months after unveiling its $100 million series A investment. It’s further evidence that its distinctive “precision neuromedicine” approach has gained traction with some deep-pocketed investors and adds further momentum both to its clinical development and its discovery research efforts. “In biotech, you’re never not raising money – that’s a constant endeavor we have as a growth biotech company,” Rapport CEO Abraham Ceesay told BioWorld.

New COVID-19 vaccine drive could help Regeneron bounce back from sales loss

The COVID-19 pandemic might be officially over, but future variants could still pose a threat, and serious health consequences of the causative virus continue to arise, a fact that has prompted the U.S. government to offer Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. about $326 million to develop and manufacture a next-generation COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapy. The deal springs from an initiative by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In total, “Project Nextgen” will pay the pharma industry over $1.4 billion to incentivize them to develop more effective and longer-lasting vaccines, as well as transformative technologies to streamline manufacturing processes.

Fore closes its series D to advance BRAF alterations drug

Fore Biotherapeutics Inc. has closed on a $75 million series D financing so that it can continue developing plixorafenib, an oral small molecule that selectively inhibits BRAF alterations. Recently released phase I study data in treating advanced solid and CNS tumors showed nine confirmed partial responses and a favorable safety profile. The drug received orphan drug designation from the U.S. FDA in March. The financing was led by SR One and Medicxi. Fore is the former Novellusdx Ltd., of Berkeley, Calif.

Verismo, U Penn team up on two CD19 binders for novel CAR T

Verismo Therapeutics Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of South Korea’s HLB Co. Ltd., inked a license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania for two newly discovered CD19 binders — one of which will be used to develop Synkir-310, its investigative CAR T therapy for blood cancers. Under the terms, Philadelphia-based Verismo gains exclusive, worldwide rights to the two binders, which resulted from a research agreement first signed in November 2022. Financial terms and duration of the licensing deal could not be disclosed at the present time, an HLB Group spokesperson based in Gangnam, Seoul, confirmed to BioWorld.

Cage fight could make for resistance-resistant antibiotic

A newly discovered antibiotic has been shown to block the synthesis of bacterial cell walls via immutable targets, raising the prospect of a class of drugs that will not lose effect through the development of antimicrobial resistance. Clovibactin, isolated from soil bacteria, targets the cell wall precursor molecules lipid II, lipid III and undecaprenyl phosphate (C55PP), all of which have a pyrophosphate group in common. The antibiotic molecule features a depsi-cycle, a cyclic motif with hydrophobic sidechains that wrap around pyrophosphate “like a neatly fitting glove,” said Markus Weingarth, an associate professor of chemistry at Utrecht University.

BioWorld Insider Podcast – The struggle is real: The first half of 2023 was an uphill climb

Guests Karen Carey, BioWorld’s managing editor, and Mike Ward, Clarivate’s global head of Life Sciences and Healthcare Thought Leadership, discuss the deals, financing and M&A landscape for the first half of 2023 and how U.K. biopharmas are faring post Brexit.

Also in the news

Aardvark, Abivax, Agenus, Aicuris, Ajax, Akava, Alpine Immune Sciences, Alterome, Amgen, Apellis, Apexigen, Bayer, Bergenbio, Biontech, Celcuity, Curi, Eli Lilly, Evofem, Ferronova, Fulcrum, Geneos, Genethon, Geron, GRI, Immvira, Index, Janone, Janssen, Kintor, Mallinckrodt, Matinas, Medigene, Nascent, Neuron23, Pfizer, Pyxis, Ray, Recce, Sobi, South Rampart, Stellas, Ventus, Vigeneron, Vincerx