A collaboration between Oncosec Medical Inc. and Merck and Co. that yielded positive phase II study data has paved the way for a phase III study between the two companies. Oncosec’s DNA-plasmid interleukin-12 (IL-12) Tavo (tavokinogene telseplasmid) will be combined with Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in a randomized, global phase III study for treating late-stage metastatic melanoma.
LONDON – Following on from the $25 million up-front payment received on sealing their recent research collaboration, Mina Therapeutics Ltd. is now in line for a $15 million equity investment from Eli Lilly and Co. Inc.
Advaxis Inc.’s long journey is ending happily by way of a merger with Biosight Ltd. that leaves the new firm with $50 million to help advance aspacytarabine (BST-236), a prodrug of cytarabine for acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.
Alector Inc. Chief Operating Officer Shehnaaz Suliman said her company’s deal with Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) – worth as much as $2.2 billion – “allows us to expand into indications that we have been quite thoughtful about doing, but in a more expeditious manner. This is really an opportune time to continue to explore the biology of these programs across multiple indications.”
While the number of biopharma’s nonprofit deals and grants, as well as their values, have dropped by more than 20% compared with last year, almost 71% of the combined funds are targeting COVID-19 therapeutics, vaccines and other pandemic efforts.
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH has begun a three-year collaboration with researchers at Australia’s WEHI, looking into a potentially powerful approach to targeted protein degradation also being studied by its German rival Merck KGaA.
Glaxosmithkline plc CEO Emma Walmsley has set out further details of the company’s forthcoming split, saying that the firm’s late-stage pipeline could help deliver sales of more than £33 billion by 2031.
Viiv Healthcare Group has continued its quest for patient-friendly long-acting HIV drugs, signing a potential $740 million deal with Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. to develop injections that could be dosed more than six months apart.
Gene therapy specialist Uniqure N.V. said Tuesday that, with confidence inspired by new 52-week data on its investigational hemophilia B therapy, etranacogene dezaparvovec, it plans to submit a BLA for the program with partner CSL Behring LLC in first quarter of 2022. Uniqure meanwhile has moved to acquire Corlieve Therapeutics SAS and its lead program to treat temporal lobe epilepsy, the most common form of focal epilepsy. The acquisition, worth up to €250 million (US$297.3 million) for Corlieve, includes €46.3 million cash up front.
Intellia Therapeutics Inc. CEO John Leonard said the deal with Blackstone Life Sciences and Cellex Cell Professionals GmbH will create a new CAR T-cell therapy enterprise that bears “a German background with a strong American accent.” Blackstone committed $250 million to launch an autologous and allogeneic universal CAR T-cell therapy firm that will put together Intellia’s allogeneic cell platform plus CRISPR cell engineering with expertise from CAR T specialist Gemoab GmbH, a subsidiary of Cellex.
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