Just days after Hifibio Therapeutics Inc. closed a $75 million series D financing, Fibrogen Inc. has agreed to pay the antibody specialist $25 million up front and as much as $1.1 billion in milestones for rights to multiple preclinical programs for autoimmune diseases and cancer. The deal includes exclusive rights to Galectin-9 programs, in which the lead asset is expected to enter clinical development in the first quarter of 2023, and options to license all assets in Hifibio's CXCR5 and CCR8 programs.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. said findings from its phase III Solstice study testing oral antiviral TAK-620 (maribavir) in treating solid organ transplant recipients with cytomegalovirus infections resistant or refractory to prior therapy (R/R CMV), showed twice the rate of confirmed CMV viremia clearance compared to other conventional therapies.

The hefty $107.5 million series B financing disclosed June 10 by Synthekine Inc. underscored Wall Street’s interest in engineered cytokines, where an army of companies is developing prospects at varying stages – including Bright Peak Therapeutics Inc., which pulled down a series B in almost exactly the same amount as Synthekine, and on the same day.