The first special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger announced in 2023 has fallen apart. Aprinoia Therapeutics Inc. and Ross Acquisition Corp. II mutually agreed to call off the merger that had been valued at $280 million. Neither offered any details about why the deal fell through. The funding was aimed at getting candidate 18F-APN-1607, a second-generation PET imaging tracer designed to target tau proteins in their pathological aggregated states, to the market in China. Ross’s CEO, Wilbur Ross, had agreed to personally invest $7.5 million through a convertible note and had committed up to $12.5 million at closing. The failed deal is part of a larger trend that has gained momentum in the past year as a struggling economy and tighter U.S. SEC restrictions dampened SPAC deals.

Ferring ramps up bladder cancer drug launch with Royalty deal worth up to $500M

Ferring Pharmaceuticals A/S has struck a deal with Royalty Pharma for $500 million, capital it plans to plough into achieving a successful launch of its approved bladder cancer gene therapy, Adstiladrin (nadofaragene firadenovec), in the U.S., as well as enabling it to upgrade and expand its manufacturing sites. The agreement comprises an up-front fee of $300 million, while a milestone payment totaling $200 million is also on the table should Ferring meet its manufacturing obligations by 2025.

Opthea to raise AU$80M to continue phase III wet AMD trials for lead candidate OPT-302

Opthea Ltd. plans to raise AU$80 million (US$51.2 million) via a AU$10 million private placement and a AU$70 million entitlement offer to continue its pivotal phase III trials in wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) for lead candidate OPT-302. The company said the phase III trials are 75% enrolled, with the Coast trial expected to be fully enrolled in the first quarter of 2024 and the Shore trial in the second quarter of 2024. Top-line data are expected when all patients complete the 52-week treatment period.

Tarsier’s eye drop for uveitis misses phase III endpoint; silver lining?

A nonsteroidal eye drop formulation of dazdotuftide, TRS-01 missed its late-stage primary endpoint for controlling inflammation in uveitis, but developer Tarsier Pharma Ltd. said post-hoc analysis showing a boosted benefit-risk profile over steroids may be a ray of hope. Currently, steroid eye drops are the only treatment for active anterior uveitis inflammation. Although TRS-01 failed to beat out steroid treatment for controlling inflammation at four weeks, Tarsier said, the eye drop had some redeeming qualities: namely, longer control of inflammation.

cMET begets cadets from well-armed pharma big and small

Apollomics Inc.’s business combination this spring with Maxpro Capital Acquisition Corp., along with data that emerged from competitors Merck KGaA and Johnson & Johnson during the more recent American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, shone a spotlight on continuing efforts to develop mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (cMET) inhibitors.

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

Abata, ABVC, Aicuris, Bionomics, Bristol Myers Squibb, Can-Fite, Cargo, Celcuity, Ceramedix, Cromos, Dizal, Exelixis, Fusion Antibodies, Genentech, Immix, Inhibikase, Leo, Longboard, Lynk, Mithra, Nexcella, Orizuru, Peptigrowth, Pfizer, Recce, Relmada, Sapu, SK Bioscience, Tiziana, Transcode, Vaxxas, XNK