PERTH, Australia – Mesoblast Ltd. inked an exclusive global licensing deal with Novartis AG for the development, manufacture and commercialization of Mesoblast’s mesenchymal stromal cell product remestemcel-L, with an initial focus on the acute respiratory distress syndrome, including that associated with COVID-19, just six weeks after the FDA issued a complete response letter for the therapy as a treatment for steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease.
With its acquisition of privately held Oncoimmune Ltd. for an up-front $425 million in cash, Merck & Co. Inc. ups its COVID-19 game with CD24Fc, a recombinant fusion protein targeting the innate immune system that is faring well in treating pandemic patients.
Precision Biosciences Inc. CEO Matthew Kane said the company is in “active discussions around additional partnerships in vivo and in other areas across our organization,” after scoring a deal with Eli Lilly and Co. centered on the firm’s Arcus genome-editing platform. “There’s no conceivable way in the near term that we’re going to advance all of the possibilities of Arcus on our own,” he said.
Still not there yet, but close. Biopharma projected deal values are currently at $159.4 billion, just shy of the 2019 record of $160.3 billion. With about six weeks left in the year, it is highly likely that 2020 will come out on top.
PERTH, Australia – Mesoblast Ltd. inked an exclusive global licensing deal with Novartis AG for the development, manufacture and commercialization of Mesoblast’s mesenchymal stromal cell product remestemcel-L, with an initial focus on the acute respiratory distress syndrome, including that associated with COVID-19, just six weeks after the FDA issued a complete response letter for the therapy as a treatment for steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease.
HONG KONG – Shanghai and New Jersey-based Lianbio has landed a commitment of up to $70 million in non-dilutive capital from a new collaboration with Pfizer Inc., just weeks raising $310 million in an oversubscribed crossover financing round. The collaboration is aimed at developing and commercializing new pharmaceutical products in Greater China.
HONG KONG – Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has signed an exclusive license agreement with Lung Therapeutics Inc., picking up the Japanese rights to Lung Tx’s LTI-01, a recombinant human single-chain urokinase plasminogen activator for loculated pleural effusion (LPE).
HONG KONG – Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has signed a research and development collaboration agreement with fellow Israeli biotech company Mybiotics Pharma Ltd. to identify and optimize the selected microbiome repertoire associated with the response to Aramchol (arachidyl amido cholanoic acid), Galmed’s fatty acid bile acid conjugate treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
3D Medicines Inc. has licensed in from Aravive Inc. a phase Ib-completed GAS6/AXL inhibitor known as AVB-500 in a deal worth up to $219 million. The Chinese firm will have the rights to develop and commercialize the drug candidate across all oncology indications in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
HONG KONG – Peptidream Inc. has partnered with four other Japanese companies to research and develop peptide therapeutics capable of neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as potential future coronavirus outbreaks. Peptiaid Inc., the joint venture established with Fujitsu Ltd., Mizuho Financial Group Inc. subsidiary Mizuho Capital Co. Ltd., Takenaka Corp. and Kishida Chemical Co. Ltd., will have capital totaling ¥599 million (US$5.73 million) by Dec. 31.
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