The first special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger announced in 2023 has fallen apart. Aprinoia Therapeutics Inc. and Ross Acquisition Corp. II mutually agreed to call off the merger that had been valued at $280 million. The failed deal is part of a larger trend that has gained momentum in the past year as a struggling economy and tighter U.S. SEC restrictions dampened SPAC deals.
Rapport Therapeutics Inc. raised $150 million in a series B round, less than six months after unveiling its $100 million series A investment. It’s further evidence that its distinctive precision neuromedicine approach has gained traction with some deep-pocketed investors and adds further momentum both to its clinical development and its discovery research efforts.
Incannex Healthcare Ltd. is gearing up to begin a pivotal phase II/III trial in the U.S. for its lead asset, IHL-42X (dronabinol/acetazolamide), a synthetic cannabinoid combination drug for sleep apnea.
The impact of a black box warning on Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.’s expanded U.S. label for Ingrezza (valbenazine) to treat chorea associated with Huntington’s disease (HD) appears up for debate, following FDA approval late Aug. 18. But analysts agree that it is unlikely to affect sales of the VMAT2 inhibitor in tardive dyskinesia, for which the company recently raised 2023 guidance as high as $1.82 billion.
Research in rhesus monkeys has shown a gene therapy that enhanced activity in dopamine producing neurons in the brain was effective at stopping excessive alcohol consumption in previously addicted animals.
Scientists have discovered that a small chemokine protein released by activated platelets, platelet factor 4 (PF 4), reduced neuroinflammation, and improved cognition in aged mice. The study was published on Aug. 16 in the online edition of Nature.
Harmony Biosciences Holdings Inc.’s agreement to acquire Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $60 million cash plus as much as $140 million in contingent value rights (CVRs) didn’t register as one of the larger potential outlays recently, but Wall Street had questions about the term sheet just the same. Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based Harmony is paying about $1.10 per share in cash for Zynerba, of Devon, Pa., plus one non-tradeable CVR tied to clinical, regulatory and sales milestones.
Wall Street cheered Vistagen Therapeutics Inc.’s first positive phase III trial with a drug for social anxiety disorder (SAD) in 15 years and sent the South San Francisco-based firm’s shares (NASDAQ:VTGN) on a rocket ride to close Aug. 7 at $13.05, up $11.37, or 677%. Vistagen unveiled top-line data from the phase III study called Palisade-2 testing the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of lead asset fasedienol (PH-94B) nasal spray in adults with SAD.
Despite the U.S. FDA’s approval of Sage Therapeutics Inc.’s priority NDA for postpartum depression, the accompanying complete response letter (CRL) for major depressive disorder has undercut the company’s plans. Withholding the approval for MDD slices away a huge amount of the potential market for Sage and its collaborator, Biogen Inc.
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) accepted Luye Pharma Group Ltd.’s NDA for rotigotine (LY-03003) extended-release microspheres and granted it priority review for treating Parkinson’s disease. The microsphere formulation delivers the dopamine agonist in a weekly injection. If approved, LY-03003 would be the first long-acting extended-release microsphere formulation for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The drug is also being developed in parallel in the U.S. and Japan.
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