HONG KONG – Hummingbird Bioscience Pte. Ltd. is collaborating with artificial intelligence (AI) company Tempus Labs Inc. to advance HMBD-001, a differentiated anti-HER3 neutralizing antibody developed using Hummingbird's Rational Antibody Discovery platform, into clinical trials in HER3-driven cancers, including those that harbor neuregulin 1 (NRG1) fusions.
Positive results from the triple-combination arm of Biolinerx Ltd.’s phase IIa study of motixafortide as a combination therapy in incredibly tough-to-handle stage IV pancreatic cancer point toward a next study, yet the stock took a battering.
HONG KONG – Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd.’s toripalimab has reached its prespecified primary endpoint of progression-free survival at the interim analysis of a phase III study in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as efforts to expand approval of the anti-PD-1 antibody into other cancer types are underway.
As the year draws to a close, there is no doubt that investors have been keeping a close watch on emerging companies developing cancer therapies as well as those with new vaccines and treatments aimed at defeating COVID-19.
Australian biopharma Immutep Ltd. saw its stock price jump 165% Dec. 10, as the company reported that adding its eftilagimod alpha (IMP-321, “efti”) to paclitaxel resulted in what the company called a “promising and improving” trend toward increased overall survival in women with metastatic hormone receptor-driven breast cancer.
Suzhou, China-based Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd. said it's "actively initiating" multiregional phase II/III trials to test a combination of its angiogenesis inhibitor, GT-90001 (ascrinvacumab), and Opdivo (nivolumab) for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after preliminary data showed 40% of patients given the combo so far had partial remissions.
BEIJING – San Diego and Hangzhou, China-based biotech Denovo Biopharma LLC closed a series D financing round to raise nearly ¥300 million (US$46 million) on Dec. 8, just six months after its $83.5 million series C round. Denovo CFO Carrie Chen told BioWorld that the proceeds will be used to “upgrade the technology platform, advance the clinical programs, expand the team and license in new assets.”
Clinical-stage biopharma HBM Holdings Ltd. (also known as Harbour Biomed) debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Dec. 10, raising HK$1.71 billion (US$220.7 million) to advance its autoimmune candidates to commercial launches in 2023.
DUBLIN – Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH is paying up to €1.18 billion (US$1.4 billion) to acquire antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) developer NBE-Therapeutics AG. The deal includes an undisclosed up-front payment, plus development and regulatory milestones linked to the progress of NBE’s pipeline of clinical and preclinical ADC programs.
New and updated preclinical and clinical data presented by biopharma firms at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dec. 8-11, including: Amunix, Astrazeneca, Athenex, Beyondspring, Bold, Briacell, Daiichi Sankyo, Eli Lilly, Evelo, Greenwich, Immutep, Infinity, Medsir, Novartis, Oncolytics, Pharmabcine.