HONG KONG – South Korean biotech Bioleaders Co. Ltd., headquartered in Yong-in city, Gyeonggi-do, and Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science, based in Rehovot, recently founded a joint venture in Israel. With the new entity, they will accelerate the R&D of a Weizmann-developed approach targeting p53, a strong tumor suppressor that has proved difficult to drug.

CEO Mark McKenna told BioWorld that San Diego-based Prometheus Biosciences Inc. has "cracked the code" in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – progress underscored by the firm's deal with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, which brings an undisclosed up-front payment and as much as $420 million more if development, regulatory and commercial milestones are reached in three programs.

Angiodynamics Inc., of Latham, N.Y., is picking up Rehovot, Israel-based Eximo Medical Ltd. for $46 million up front and up to $20 million of contingent consideration related to certain technical and revenue milestones. Eximo offers laser atherectomy technology that is in a limited launch.

Newlink Genetics Corp. and Lumos Pharma Inc. have agreed to merge, with the deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. Lumos will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Newlink, which will be renamed Lumos Pharma Inc.

The diversification at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) continued Monday with its acquisition of Dova Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a deal worth about $915 million.

BOSTON – How are med-tech companies reacting to the findings of the EY Pulse of the Industry report 2019? Members of a panel examined this question this week during the Medtech Conference in Boston, while also offering their insight on where the industry is headed.

PERTH, Australia – Melbourne-based regenerative medicine company Cynata Therapeutics Ltd. is enjoying a bit of hot pursuit as Fujifilm Corp. exercised its license option to develop and commercialize Cynata's lead Cymerus mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) product, CYP-001, for graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) at the same time that Cynata is an acquisition target by Dainippon Sumitomo.

Proteon Therapeutics Inc.'s inventorying of options after the phase III failure with vonapanitase in chronic kidney disease (CKD) ended in a merger deal with Artara Therapeutics Inc., a startup that has hung its main hat on TARA-002, a therapy for lymphatic malformations (also called lymphangiomas) that has already gained validation by way of a similar product in Japan.

Anokion SA, a Swiss biotech focused on autoimmune disease, is bringing in-house a startup it spun out for a development alliance with Astellas Pharma Inc. The acquisition of Kanyos Bio Inc., announced alongside news it closed a $40 million series B financing, puts front and center KAN-101, a preclinical celiac disease drug poised for an IND filing by year-end. Together with Anokion's lead candidate, ANK-780, an antigen-specific treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS), the company anticipates having two programs in clinical development within the next 12 months.