Windward Bio AG was established with plans to both license a drug and establish wet labs to create an internal pipeline of drug candidates. SR One, Omega Funds, RTW Investments, Qiming Venture Partners, Quan Capital and Pivotal Bioventure Partners funded the Basel, Switzerland-based company’s $200 million series A financing round.
The PD-1 receptor, a major immune checkpoint inhibitor whose signaling is the target of multiple blockbuster anticancer drugs, differs functionally between rodents and humans in previously unknown ways. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, and co-authors at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Cancer Institute reported these findings in the Jan. 3, 2025, online issue of Science Immunology.
Wuxi Biologics Co. Ltd. is licensing a preclinical trispecific T-cell engager to Candid Therapeutics Inc. in a deal worth up to $925 million plus royalties.
Ophthalmic diseases specialist Oculis Holding AG announced positive phase II data showing its serum-glucose corticoid kinase-2 activator OCS-05 protected nerve cells and improved vision in patients with acute optic neuritis. The placebo-controlled, randomized trial assessed the neuroprotective effect of OCS-05 in combination with standard-of-care steroid injections, against steroids alone, with a benefit seen in preserving both ganglions and retinal cell nerve fibers.
A year after Generate Biomedicines Inc. pulled off its $273 million series C financing round, the Flagship Pioneering-spawned and AI-powered protein therapeutics firm drew investment of an undisclosed amount from the Samsung Life Science Fund Dec. 18.
Clinical data reported by a handful of biopharmas on Dec. 19 sent stocks soaring or plunging, as company leaders laid out next-step plans. Investors showed enthusiasm for Omeros Corp.’s narsoplimab to treat hematopoietic stem cell-transplant-associated thrombotic microangiopathy (TA-TMA), and Roche AG’s Parkinson’s prospect prasinezumab, which is partnered with Prothena Corp. plc.
GC Biopharma Corp. will buy plasma collector Abo Holdings Inc. in a ₩138 billion (US$96.28 million) cash acquisition as the vaccine and plasma-derived medicinal products developer works to accelerate entry of Alyglo (IVIG-SN 10%) in the U.S., where it was approved last year.
Disappointing readouts from separate phase II studies in atopic dermatitis sank shares of Q32 Bio Inc. and Anaptysbio Inc., as their respective antibody candidates failed to impress in a highly competitive space.
Citryll BV has closed an €85 million (US$89.8 million) series B, enabling it to take CIT-013, an antibody designed to block pathological neutrophil extracellular traps that drive a wide range of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, into phase IIa development.
During a busy day of dealmaking, Cour Pharmaceutical Development Co. Inc. entered a pact with Roche Holding AG’s Genentech unit to advance tolerogenic nanoparticle treatments for an autoimmune disease indication, garnering up to $940 million in up-front and milestone payments. Cour’s partnership with Genentech is its biggest to date, and the largest deal announced by a biopharma company on Dec. 3. A total of seven deals amounted to a combined single-day deal value of $3.67 billion.
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