Chimerix Inc., which already has COVID-19 and smallpox therapeutics in clinical trials, has acquired privately held Oncoceutics Inc., bringing ONC-201, a small-molecule dopamine receptor D2 antagonist and caseinolytic protease agonist for treating recurrent gliomas harboring the H3 K27M mutation, into the fold.
LONDON – Theolytics Ltd. raised $6.8 million in a series A round to further develop its platform technology and advance the lead oncolytic virus program toward the clinic.
In less than a year, Scorpion Therapeutics Inc. has raised about $270 million and just closed on an oversubscribed series B financing that climbed to $162 million. The new financing quickly follows the Boston-based company’s founding at the end of the first quarter of 2020 and the closure of a $108 million series A financing in October.
Abcuro Inc. raised $42 million in a series A-1 round to progress preclinical programs in autoimmune disease and cancer involving a largely overlooked immune checkpoint receptor, killer cell lectin-like receptor G1 (KLRG1).
Immuneering Corp., a bioinformatics specialist that has for years helped big companies like Teva Pharmaceutical Ltd. and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. better understand their own medicines, has landed $62 million in an oversubscribed series B financing that will help it leverage lessons learned in that journey to build out its own pipeline, starting with IMM-1-104, a dual inhibitor of MEK and a related target.
Iconovir Bio Inc., of San Diego, raised $77 million in a series A financing to develop differentiated oncolytic virus candidates the company said it believes could potentially be I.V.-administered, tumor-selective and could broadly infect tumor cells.
A metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) trial once expected to pave a path to registration for the Calithera Biosciences Inc. candidate telaglenastat failed to show a benefit from the drug in a new analysis of the pivotal phase II study, Cantata. While company executives voiced confidence in the drug's prospects in another indication, non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), analyst and investor faith appeared less sturdy, as company shares (NASDAQ:CALA) fell 44.6% to $2.72 on Jan. 4.
Sutro Biopharma Inc.’s stock-perking news in early December with STRO-002, a folate receptor alpha-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) to treat ovarian cancer, reminded investors of potential in the class, which has been more than realized in recent years and could yield more upside in the near term. As of the Oct. 30 cutoff date, STRO-002 tallied one complete response and nine partial responses in the challenging indication, which works out to an overall response rate of 32% (10 out of 31) in evaluable patients.
Following a record-shattering year, terms were set for the first two biotech IPOs of 2021 in deals that could generate up to $300 million. Cullinan Oncology LLC, of Cambridge, Mass., set terms Jan. 4 for raising about $150 million by pricing 8.3 million shares in the $17 to $19 range. Gracell Biotechnology Ltd., of Shanghai, also set the terms for its U.S. IPO Jan. 4. The CAR T-cell developer looks to raise $150 million by offering 8.8 million American depositary shares in a range of $16 to $18 each.
HONG KONG – Hutchison China Meditech Ltd. (Chi-Med) earned approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for Sulanda (surufatinib) for the treatment of non-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), marking what CEO Christian Hogg called a “major milestone” as the first drug to be discovered and developed by Chi-Med without the support of a development partner.
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