Oricell Therapeutics Holdings Ltd closed a $110 million pre-IPO round to expand its global footprint and advance its lead candidate, a GPC3-targeted autologous CAR T therapy for liver cancer to registrational trials. The oversubscribed round was co-led by Vivo Capital, Beijing Medical and Health Care Industry Investment Fund, Qiming Venture Partners and a leading global health care fund. Oricell's lead asset, Ori-C101, is a GPC3-targeted autologous CAR T to treat advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Having completed investigator-initiated trials and a registrational phase I trial, the candidate is expected to enter pivotal trials soon.

Fit and fat? Study shows no such thing as metabolically healthy obesity

There are new data to chew over in the ongoing controversy about obesity being diagnosed as a disease from a study tracking 157,159 participants in the UK Biobank over 13 years. This shows that even in the absence of any metabolic disturbance such as elevated lipids, high blood pressure or diabetes, there is an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, heart failure and liver disease in people with a body mass index (BMI) over 30. “This means that fit and fat does not exist. [Obesity] carries significant adverse health outcomes,” said Kausik Ray, professor of public health at Imperial College London, who led the research.

Fat market in lipid-lowering keeps space busy; players include Amgen, Merck, Novartis

The lipid space is thick with news as ever, with recent data offerings at the American Society of Cardiology (ACC) meeting in New Orleans as well as a dosing start in phase IIb by Novartis AG with siRNA therapy DII-235, and more. Among those spotlighted at ACC were Merck & Co. Inc. and Amgen Inc. As development of new treatment prospects marches on, research is discovering that it’s never too early to start monitoring cholesterol levels.

Stryker expects cyberattack to impact Q1 results

Stryker Corp. revealed that the cyberattack which occurred last month had a material impact on its operations and will impact its financial results for the first quarter of 2026. However, the company said in an SEC filing that it is now fully operation and does not expect the incident to have a material impact on its 2026 full-year guidance.

Realta secures another $40M for its hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy treatment

Realta Life Sciences Inc. raised an additional $40 million in the final tranche of its series A investment, bringing the total the company has raised to more than $150 million. Realta is currently testing pegtarazimod as a treatment hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in the phase II Star study, which is expected to complete enrollment in the third quarter of 2026 with a likely readout by the end of the year. The peptide drug is based on a sequence found on the capsid of the human astrovirus HastV-1, which the company has shown can block the inflammatory response in newborns with HIE due to complications during birth.

Regeneration in mammals is controlled by environmental conditions

The loss of regenerative capacity in mammals over the course of evolution may be linked to certain environmental conditions rather than to a genetic limitation. Tissue stiffness around an amputated area, oxygen availability, or epigenetic regulation could determine this ability, according to two simultaneously published but independent studies published in Science.

Changes afoot at Teleflex to right ship

Teleflex Inc. reported that Stephen Klasko will step down as chair of the board, and said it intends to establish a new Growth and Operating Committee as well as repurchase $1 billion of its shares. The moves come amid pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which owns a 2% stake and recently urged the company to take a more constructive and responsible approach to evaluating strategic alternatives, after Teleflex declined to engage with potential acquirors despite interest from multiple credible parties.

Kennedy expands ACIP function, membership criteria

Changing out his previous two-year-renewal of the standard charter for the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy made monitoring adverse vaccine events a primary function of the committee and expanded its liaison membership to include organizations that have challenged vaccine safety. “While vaccine safety is always an important consideration, what we are witnessing is a manipulation of the committee's purpose toward the singular goal of upending vaccine confidence and use in the United States,” Richard Hughes, of Epstein Becker & Green PC, said of the new charter just posted to the ACIP website.

Also in the news

23andMe, Annovis, Assertio, Ataraxis, Avalyn, BMS, Biomérieux, Boehringer, Byondis, Cartherics, Cartography, Carvolix, Catalent, Click, Cosette, Curonix, Daiichi, Deck Bio, Duality, Egetis, Eli Lilly, Forte, Garda, GE, Gilead, Glenmark, Idorsia, Imagene, Kymera, Leads Biolabs, Macrogenics, Medical Microinstruments, Medicenna, Modular Medical, Myndtec, Novo Nordisk, Nxera, Orthofix, OS, Oxford, Paindrainer, Plus, Precision Neuroscience, Pulse, Rani, Smith+Nephew, Sonablate, Telix, Zentalis, Zymeworks