After more than two decades of working together, Genmab A/S has entered a new licensing agreement with Scancell Holdings plc to gain the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize an anti-glycan monoclonal antibody. All potential disease areas except cell therapy applications are on the table in the deal. Genmab will make an up-front payment of an undisclosed amount to Scancell as well as covering milestone payments of up to $208 million for each candidate that’s developed and commercialized. The amount is capped at $624 million to Scancell if Genmab manages to develop and commercialize products across all modalities the companies have defined. Scancell could also receive single-digit royalties on the net sales of products.
Enhanc3D Genomics Ltd. has raised £10 million (US$11.3 million) in a series A round to advance development of its Genlink3D technology for directly linking gene regulators in non-coding DNA to their target protein coding genes.
Normunity Inc. emerged from stealth by unveiling $65 million in series A funding and bold plans to tackle one of the critical issues in immuno-oncology. Normunity is based on the research of scientific founder Lieping Chen, of Yale School of Medicine, an early immuno-oncology pioneer who identified and characterized the gene encoding PD-L1 (then called B7-H1) and shortly afterward reporting additional findings that contributed to its recognition as an important target in cancer immunotherapy.
Suzhou Zelgen Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. reported a phase III trial testing the company’s deuterium-substituted sorafenib derivative donafenib in patients with progressive locally advanced or metastatic radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer met its primary endpoint following a preplanned interim analysis which found the drug significantly prolonged median progression-free survival vs. a placebo.
Celltrion Healthcare Inc. has signed a deal with Pinotbio Inc. to develop antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for up to 15 separate cancer targets incorporating the linker-payload platform technology Pinot-ADC. Celltrion could pay Pinotbio as much as ₩1.77 trillion (US$1.24 billion) to exercise options for all 15 targets in the collaboration. But, for starters, it will pay Pinotbio ₩1 billion up front.
Radiopharm Theranostics Ltd.’s phase II F-18 Pivalate positron emission tomography trial in brain metastases saw positive results with high uptake regardless of the origin of primary tumors, showing that Pivalate could be used to monitor brain metastases.
Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. subsidiary Eucure Biopharma Co. Ltd. has formed a partnership with Syncromune Inc. to combine Eucure’s YH-002 and two other active ingredients with Syncromune’s Syncrovax platform technology.
Inxmed Co. Ltd. has formed a partnership with Shanghai Huaota Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to combine the former’s IN-10018 and the latter’s HB-0030 for the treatment of solid tumors by jointly running preclinical studies and clinical trials.
Haisco Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. has described protein arginine N-methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Hainan Sparkle Therapeutics Co. Ltd. has disclosed fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.