Thirty-six biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies sought a capital raise on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the first half (H1) of 2025, a review by BioWorld found. Of those, 34 companies were from mainland China.

While people living with HIV can lead virtually normal lives thanks to antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV persists in a latent state within cellular reservoirs that scientists do not know how to eliminate. “Transcription is a critical step in the viral life cycle. … But there are currently no drugs suppressing HIV transcription, and that may be one of the reasons why current antiretroviral therapy is not curative,” Melanie Ott told the audience at the 13th IAS Conference on HIV Science this week in Kigali, Rwanda.

Illimis Therapeutics Inc. raised ₩58 billion (US$42 million) in a series B financing round. The funds will support development of ILM-01, its lead bispecific fusion protein candidate, into preclinical development for Alzheimer’s disease by the second half of 2025, along with the company’s neuroimmunology portfolio.

Nearly six years after Ichnos Sciences Inc. launched operations, a subsidiary of the now-named Ichnos Glenmark Innovation (IGI) Inc. has signed with Abbvie Inc. a global licensing partnership for trispecific antibody ISB-2001 worth $1.925 billion plus royalties. ISB-2001, which targets BCMA, CD38 and CD3, is in a phase I trial for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and has orphan drug and fast track status in the U.S

Tickling Wall Street’s already strong interest in the mechanism of action was Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc., which June 30 made public positive results from the phase I single ascending-dose study with aritinercept (AUR-200), the company’s dual inhibitor of B cell-activating factor (BAFF) and a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL).

Degradation is a therapeutic strategy that could offer possibilities to get at currently undruggable target proteins. In targeted degradation, compounds induce interactions between a target protein and a protein that can tag the target for degradation. In principle, there are several pathways that could be used for such tagging; the most attention has gone to ubiquitin ligases, in particular cereblon, a protein that is part of a ubiquitin ligase complex and the target of several approved drugs.

In subpoenaing a former Pfizer Inc. official to appear before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee July 22, Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, signaled legislative steps Congress may take in response to allegations that Pfizer slow-walked its COVID-19 vaccine development in 2020 so the trial results wouldn’t have to be disclosed until after the presidential election.