Astrazeneca plc has signed up for more of the heavy-duty structure-based drug discovery services Proteros Biostructures GmbH specializes in, inking an extension to their existing collaboration agreement.
Kriya Therapeutics Inc. has raised a $270 million series C financing to further develop its pipeline of gene therapies for treating cancer, ophthalmological problems, and rare and chronic diseases. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company has greatly expanded its employee roster, from about seven people to around 160 people, since its $80 million series A in May 2020 and scaled its learning-enabled tech and cloud computing abilities. It also further solidified its technology, manufacturing, R&D, and therapeutics units, something it plans to continue with the series C money.
A move by Chimerix Inc. to strengthen its balance sheet by $225 million through the sale of smallpox drug Tembexa (brincidofovir) to biodefense specialist Emergent Biosolutions Inc. and extend its cash runway into 2026, should have proved a big win. Instead, shares (NASDAQ:CMRX) plunged nearly 61% May 16 on worry that Chimerix might be handing off a likely profitable program to fund a riskier oncology pipeline, a concern heightened by recent U.S. FDA feedback indicating lead oncology program ONC-201 might not be eligible for accelerated approval as previously expected.