Shares in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. rose sharply after Pfizer Inc. invested $25 million and struck a deal to catalyze development of the company’s WEE1 inhibitor ZN-c3, an oral drug designed to make cancer cells self-destruct.

Ashvattha Therapeutics Inc. secured $69 million in a series B financing that it said will strengthen its ability to develop hydroxyl dendrimer-based medicines and accelerate efforts to advance its candidates to the clinic.

Within just a few hours, Molecular Partners AG reported both a potential snag in securing emergency use authorization (EUA) for its Darpin antiviral, ensovibep, and the loss of a half-billion-dollar partnership with Amgen Inc. for the phase I-stage 4-1BB-targeting compound MP-0310. While neither update is likely to dampen prospects for the company’s overall Darpin pipeline, the near-term investor disappointment was enough to send shares (NASDAQ:MOLN) closing 37% lower April 27, after dropping to their lowest point since the Zurich, Switzerland-based firm priced its $63.8 million IPO on Nasdaq in June 2021.

After failing to meet primary safety and efficacy endpoints in a phase I/II trial for stroke, Teijin Ltd. and JCR Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. have terminated a co-development and Japan licensing agreement to develop JTR-161, an allogeneic regenerative candidate containing dental pulp stem cells.

Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc. inked an exclusive in-license agreement for Shaperon Inc.’s G protein-coupled receptor 19 (GPCR19) agonist, BBT-209, a potential treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Bridge will pay Shaperon ₩2 billion (US$1.63 million) up front. The potential deal value, which includes up-front, milestone, and royalty payments, is ₩30 billion.

Genequantum Healthcare Co. Ltd. will work with Aimed Bio Inc. to co-develop an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) to treat brain and other cancers, working toward an IND filing in 2023. Aimed Bio will focus on antibody development, while Genequantum will work on linker-payload development. “Since we have a plan to market and sell the product globally, we will conduct a phase I clinical trial in the U.S., Australia, South Korea, and China as a priority,” Do-Hyun Nam, founder, chairman, and chief technology officer of Aimed, told BioWorld.

Blackrock Neurotech LLC has acquired spatial computing software startup Mindx Corp. to advance full-stack brain-computer interface (BCI) products. As part of the transaction, Mindx’s augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology will be integrated with Blackrock’s BCI hardware.

Metabolic health platform Ultrahuman Healthcare Ltd. has acquired consumer wearable company Lazy Design Pvt Ltd. India (known as Lazyco) to expand the biomarkers complementing its current wearable, the Ultrahuman M1.

Inoviq Ltd. and The University of Queensland (UQ) are expanding a collaboration to develop an exosome-based ovarian cancer screening test. Researchers from UQ identified and validated exosomal protein and micro-RNA (miRNA) biomarkers that when combined in its OCRF-7 algorithm showed more than 90% accuracy to detect stages I and II ovarian cancer in an independent 500-sample retrospective case-control study, Inoviq CEO Leearne Hinch told BioWorld.