Ten days after its JAK1 inhibitor, itacitinib, failed a phase III trial in acute graft-vs.-host-disease (GVHD), Incyte Corp. has finalized a deal that could provide an alternative growth path. It is paying Morphosys AG $750 million up front, investing $150 million in its stock and is on the hook for up to $1.1 billion in milestones for a 50% interest in U.S. rights to the CD19-targeting antibody tafasitamab (MOR-208) and for 100% of the rights in all other territories.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Blueprint Medicines Corp.’s price tag and label for Ayvakit (avapritinib) caused some chagrin on Wall Street as observers continued to weigh the drug’s odds against ripretinib, the competing drug for which Deciphera Pharmaceuticals Inc. awaits regulatory action.
BEIJING – China-U.S. biotech Transcenta Holding Ltd., headquartered in Shanghai and Boston, completed a series B+ financing round to secure $100 million to continue its efforts in developing oncology and bone disorder drugs and to prepare for an IPO.
NBE Therapeutics AG raised $22 million in a series C round to take its first antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), NBE-002, into the clinic. NBE-002, which targets receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1), is in development for both solid tumors and lymphomas