HONG KONG – Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. received approval from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) for an additional indication for its tyrosine kinase inhibitor, Cabometyx (cabozantinib), clearing the firm to manufacture and market 20-mg and 60-mg tablets for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma that has progressed after prior systemic therapy.
LONDON – DNA damage repair (DDR) specialist Artios Pharma Ltd. has sealed a $860 million per target deal with Merck KGaA, around a series of small-molecule DNA nuclease inhibitors. The deal, for up to eight targets, will see Artios get $30 million in up-front and near-term milestones to take programs to the point at which Merck will decide on its option to take them in-house. For any products that make it to market, the $860 million in milestones along the way will be followed by double-digit royalties on sales. Subject to certain conditions, Cambridge-based Artios has rights to do joint development with Darmstadt, Germany-based Merck.
Frontier Medicines Corp. co-founder, chairman and CEO Chris Varma told BioWorld that his firm’s deal with Abbvie Inc. happened by way of a “highly competitive process, thankfully, with multiple parties at the table,” and the tie-up means money that could “well exceed” $1 billion.
HONG KONG and BEIJING – Hong Kong-listed China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Ltd. and Niel, Belgium-based mRNA vaccine specialist Etherna Immunotherapies NV are setting up a joint venture to develop, produce and commercialize mRNA prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines.
Chinese biopharma Impact Therapeutics Inc. of Nanjing raised $50 million in a series C+ round on Nov. 30, two years after its $30 million series C round. Impact’s CEO Jun Bao told BioWorld that the majority of the proceeds would be used to take several programs forward. The financing round also paved the way toward an IPO.
The already intriguing IL-2 pathway as a therapeutic target gained still more traction after San Francisco-based Nektar Therapeutics Inc. unveiled melanoma data with bempegaldesleukin (bempeg), its CD122-preferential agent in the class.
Personalized medicine, also referred to as precision or targeted medicine, continues to have a significant impact on the treatment of diseases, particularly cancer. Over the past decade or so there has been a dramatic surge in research and development investments in this field. According to the Washington-based Personalized Medicine Coalition, there are about 286 such medicines on the market currently, a number that has more than doubled from the 132 that were available in 2016, representing the largest four-year increase since the PMC began tracking personalized therapies back in 2008.
LONDON – The 10 weeks of laboratory time lost during the first U.K. COVID-19 lockdown will translate to a 17-month delay in oncology drug discovery and development projects, according to the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London.
Just ahead of the U.S. celebration of Thanksgiving, the FDA granted an accelerated approval for Danyelza (naxitamab), a new therapy for certain adults and children with relapsed or refractory high-risk neuroblastoma. The antibody, which Y-mabs Therapeutics Inc. initially sublicensed via a deal with Mabvax Therapeutics Inc. in 2018, is approved for use in combination with granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor. The regulator had assigned the BLA a Nov. 30 PDUFA date.<
HONG KONG – Hutchison China Meditech Ltd. (also known as Chi-Med) has received a $100 million equity investment from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which will fund ongoing research and clinical development and support the further growth of its commercialization capabilities both in China and globally.
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