Arcus Biosciences Inc. “brings the milk without [Gilead Sciences Inc.] having to buy the whole cow” is the way one analyst characterized the pair’s 10-year cancer immunotherapy deal, which could be worth as much as $2 billion, and some may have detected downside for Arcus, as shares (NYSE:RCUS) closed May 27 at $27.05, down $6.49, or 19%. Foster City, Calif.-based Gilead is paying Arcus, of Hayward, Calif., $175 million up front, shelling out a $200 million equity investment, and pledging potentially $1.6 billion or more in the form of R&D support, opt-in cash and milestone payments.
PERTH, Australia – Melbourne-based Prescient Therapeutics Pty Ltd. is poised to develop next-generation CAR T therapies after signing an exclusive global licensing deal with the University of Pennsylvania for a universal immune receptor technology platform.
HONG KONG – New York and San Diego-based Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. has gained $20 million in a series A financing round to support a Chinese joint venture called Zentera Therapeutics.
BEIJING – CAR T-cell therapeutics developer Carsgen Therapeutics Co. Ltd., of Shanghai, won IND clearance from the FDA for its first-in-class CT-041 for advanced gastric and pancreatic cancers. The company said it is the first claudin18.2 (CLDN18.2)-targeted CAR T-cell therapy cleared for clinical trials in the world.
BEIJING – Androgen receptor (AR)-related disease specialist Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd., of Suzhou, China, raised $240 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on May 22 by issuing 92.3 million shares at HK$20.15 apiece. The IPO was oversubscribed by 551 times, showing the city’s biotech fever.
Although many companies have experienced struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic, Brisbane, Australia, and Carlsbad, Calif.-based Impedimed Ltd. has seen success with Sozo, the company’s digital health platform. Indeed, the company has as one of its priorities helping patients with lymphedema with the platform, which is a noninvasive bioimpedance spectroscopy device.
Pharma and diagnostics giant Roche Holding AG, of Basel, Switzerland, has acquired Seattle-based Stratos Genomics Inc., an early-stage sequencing technology company, in a move aimed at advancing development of Roche’s nanopore sequencer. Financial terms of the deal, which was first reported on Friday, were not disclosed.
Variants in the APOE gene are the strongest genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Now, researchers at Rockefeller University have demonstrated that APOE variants also affected the risk of progression and metastasis as well as the response to immunotherapy, in melanoma.
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