Chinese state-owned enterprise China Meheco Group Co. Ltd. has signed a deal with Pfizer Inc. to be its mainland China partner for the commercialization of the COVID-19 pill Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir and ritonavir), which won conditional approval from China’s NMPA earlier this year.
The FDA has cleared a plasma collection device developed by Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies (Terumo BCT) and plasma collection network CSL Plasma. The companies, which are subsidiaries of Terumo Corp. and CSL Ltd., signed a collaboration deal in 2021 to develop the new Rika device for CSL Plasma collection centers. The automated technology is designed to reduce plasma collection time to 35 minutes or less. According to the Red Cross, plasma donations currently take on average about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Nec Corp. has acquired all of Vaximm AG’s neoantigen program assets. Tokyo-based Nec will conduct the acquisition via its subsidiary, Nec Oncoimmunity AS.
Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc. has signed an exclusive option-to-license agreement for Cellionbiomed Inc.’s preclinical ion channel modulator, BBT-301, thus adding a second idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) candidate to its fibrotic diseases portfolio. The company hopes to enter the clinic with the drug in the U.S. by the end of 2022.
Brightinsight Inc. and UCB SA struck a deal to jointly develop a digital disease management solution for patients with rare diseases. The companies will start with a mobile app for myasthenia gravis (MG) built on Brightinsight’s platform. UCB joins CSL Behring, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi SA and Roche AG in partnering with Brightinsight on digital disease management.
Adagene Inc. has announced a research collaboration with Sanofi SA, to find “masked” monoclonal and bispecific antibodies that are safer than marketed drugs in oncology, in a deal worth up to $2.5 billion plus royalties. San Diego and Suzhou, China-based Adagene will generate masked versions of Sanofi antibodies, taking responsibility for early stage research activities using its Safebody technology.
Novartis AG, an early and active player in bringing gene therapies to market, has agreed to pay Voyager Therapeutics Inc. $54 million up front and up to $1.7 billion in fees and milestone payments for options to license up to five next-generation adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids to use as gene therapy vectors for neurological diseases.
Lumithera Inc. has completed the acquisition of Diopsys Inc. to expand its footprint of ocular disease care. Under the terms of the agreement, Pine Brook, N.J.-based Diopsys is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Poulsbo, Wash.-based Lumithera, with its electroretinography technology adding to Lumithera’s photobiomodulation (PBM) Valeda light delivery system for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatment.
Less than two years on from its formation, central nervous system diseases specialist Accure Therapeutics SL has landed a $1 billion-plus agreement to out-license the lead program ACT-01, a first-in-class molecule with neuroprotective properties that is in a phase IIa study in acute optic neuritis. Taking on ACT-01 is ophthalmology specialist Oculis SA, which once it has positive data from the phase IIa, intends to expand to broader indications, including glaucoma and geographic atrophy.
The news from Quanterix Corp. has come fast and furiously this week. The company reported that Chairman and CEO Kevin Hrusovsky will step down on April 25 and become executive chairman of the board, while current company President Masoud Toloue will assume the CEO position and join the board of directors. Hrusovsky became CEO in 2014 and Toloue joined Quanterix in June 2021 from Perkinelmer Inc. The company also revealed that it has built on its collaboration with Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. for new tools to diagnose, monitor and treat Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and presented its fiscal 2021 financial results, which showed a 28% increase in total revenue, largely attributable to its neurology segment.
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