Novartis AG is to pay $1.1 billion up front to acquire Myricx Bio Ltd., a preclinical-stage antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) specialist that is advancing a novel and more potent class of payload. With the first two programs due to enter clinical development before the end of the year, the Swiss pharma also will pay up to $400 million more in potential milestones. This is a handsome return for the VC investors who have put $120.5 million into Myricx since it was spun out of Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute in 2019. It also represents a speedy exit for new investors in the company’s $115.4 million series A, which closed in July 2024. The centerpiece of the deal is London-based Myricx’s N-myristoyltransferase inhibitors, which in preclinical testing have prompted complete and durable tumor regression at well-tolerated doses in a range of solid tumors.

TF efforts continue apace after Tivdak go-ahead in cervical cancer

The April 2024 full U.S. FDA approval of Pfizer Inc. and Genmab A/S’ tissue factor (TF)-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) Tivdak (tisotumab vedotin) for cervical cancer (CC) further piqued interest among drug developers in the approach. Copenhagen, Denmark-based Genmab and Seagen Inc., of Bothell, Wash. (which was acquired by Pfizer), won accelerated approval for Tivdak in September 2021 based on tumor response and durability of response from the InnovaTV 204 pivotal phase II single-arm trial in previously treated patients. The FDA accepted the supplemental BLA seeking full approval in January 2024, issuing a May 9 PDUFA date. Tivdak is the first ADC to show overall survival in patients with recurrent or metastatic CC with disease progression on or after therapy. Among other players in the TF space is Sutro Biopharma Inc. with STRO-004. At the American Association of Cancer Research meeting in San Diego this year, South San Francisco-based Sutro talked up preclinical data with the DAR (drug-to-antibody ratio) 8 ADC, which bears an exatecan payload.

Astrazeneca returns to tap China’s CSPC in $1.7B discovery deal

Astrazeneca plc has returned to China’s CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. for another discovery collaboration, this time in a deal worth up to $1.77 billion to use CSPC’s siRNA drug discovery platform and extrahepatic targeted delivery technology to develop small nucleic acid drug candidates. The companies will jointly discover and develop preclinical candidates against two renal disease targets. For each program, Astrazeneca will have the option to obtain exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize the candidate globally or outside China. CSPC will retain rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize one candidate in China. Under the terms, Shijiazhuang, China-based CSPC will receive $30 million up front and is eligible for up to $540 million in development milestones, up to $1.2 billion in sales milestones and sales-based royalties. CSPC’s platforms use its AI molecular design model and automated high-throughput screening system to screen nucleic acid drug molecules with high activity and enhanced extrahepatic targeting potential.

CMS takes second run at lower reimbursement for 340B drugs

Resurrecting a reimbursement rule on 340B drugs that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 2021, CMS is once again proposing to update Medicare payment rates for drugs purchased under the 340B prescription drug discount program to better reflect what hospitals actually pay for the outpatient drugs. Under a proposed rule that would revise payment policies and rates for hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers beginning in January, CMS would pay 340B-participating hospitals the average sales price of the discounted drugs minus 33.4%, according to a notice scheduled for publication in the July 7 Federal Register.

Hyperexcitability may be joint problem in epilepsy, dementia

The majority of epilepsies are developmental disorders that start in childhood. But there is a large minority that starts in late adulthood. And increasingly, researchers are suspecting that such epilepsies share mechanisms with dementia. Summarizing the highlights of epilepsy research presented at the recent Annual Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN), Aleksandar Ristic told his audience that the biggest epilepsy story out of the Congress was “not a drug, but it was a reframing. Dementia and seizures are no longer two separate problems, at least from [an] epileptological point of view.” Ristic is president of the Serbian Society of Neurology, and an assistant professor at Belgrade Medical School. In his talk, he highlighted a joint symposium by the EAN and the International League Against Epilepsy focusing on “Seizures, cognition and dementia: Hyper-exciting times ahead.”

Holiday notice

BioWorld's offices were closed in observance of Independence Day in the U.S. No issue was published Friday, July 3.

Also in the news

Abbisko, Abivax, Altrova Health, Anaveon, Arcus, Astrazeneca, Bridgebio, Caredx, Celea, Clearone, Cortigent, Elicio, Fosun Wanbang, Genentech, GNI, Hansa, Hutchmed, Inogen, Insilico, Integra Lifesciences, Junshi, Knoa, Lonza, Merck, Myriad Genetics, Naveris, Nona, Novartis, OS Therapies, Otsuka, Partner Therapeutics, Peptidream, Polaritybio, Rentschler Biopharma, Revolution Medicines, SERB, SK Bioscience, Spinogenix, Takeda, Tenon Medical, Thymmune, Treos Bio, Trinity Biotech, United Therapeutics, Vertex, Vivani