LONDON – Araris Biotech AG has raised CHF12.7 million (US$16.8 million) in a seed funding round to take forward what it claims is the holy grail for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a linker technology that allows for the attachment of any payload to any antibody, without the need for engineering.
Chinese pharma giant Huadong Medicine Co. Ltd. has licensed rights to mirvetuximab soravtansine, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) for ovarian cancer, from Immunogen Inc., marking its first step into a realm embraced by a growing number of Chinese biopharma player: innovative medicines.
Crispr Therapeutics AG's first stab at developing an allogeneic CAR T-cell therapy, CTX-110, looks promising, but the efficacy data were overshadowed by a death in the study.
Nuvation Bio Inc. and Panacea Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Ecor1 Capital, said they will merge, with the combined company to be renamed Nuvation.
HONG KONG – Yongin, South Korea-based Rznomics Inc. is on track to develop adenoviruses for gene therapies, after signing a clinical and commercial agreement with Cologne, Germany based-Cevec Pharmaceuticals GmbH. The partnership will use the German company’s Cap technology to manufacture the adenoviruses, while the therapies, targeting various cancer indications, will be developed using Rznomics’ trans-splicing ribozyme technology.
Dren Bio Inc. has closed on a $60 million series A to push its two lead programs through early clinical development. The company’s DR-01 is an antibody-based therapy for treating rare leukemias, lymphomas and specific phenotypes of autoimmune disorders. The company said it is initially targeting neglected hematology-oncology indications.
Cambridge, U.K.-based Bicycle Therapeutics plc’s phase I dosing about a month ago of its first patient with nectin-4-targeting BT-8009 put the company on the road to hoped-for success by pursuing the same mechanism of action as Padcev (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv), the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) from Astellas Pharma Inc. and Seagen Inc.
Investigators at the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group and the National Cancer Institute reported a roughly 40% match rate of patients to molecularly targeted therapies in its NCI-Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (NCI-MATCH) trial, ultimately leading to molecularly targeted treatments for almost 20% of trial participants.
Rayzebio Inc. raised $45 million in a series A round to build a platform company focused on developing targeted radiopharmaceuticals for solid tumor indications.
DUBLIN – The cash spigot is still turned on, as two more European firms disclosed series A rounds on Oct. 13. Chord Therapeutics SA took in €16 million (US$18.8 million) to repurpose cladribine for rare autoimmune disorders. Rappta Therapeutics Oy raised €9 million to take forward a novel concept in cancer, focused on developing small-molecule activators of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A).
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