Merck & Co. Inc. is shelling out $1.3 billion in cash up front to acquire privately held Eyebiotech Ltd., gaining rights to the latter’s pivotal trial-ready diabetic macular edema drug and a pipeline of earlier-stage candidates targeting vision loss. An additional $1.7 billion could follow in development, regulatory and commercial milestones, raising the deal total to $3 billion.
Sixpeaks Bio AG has emerged from stealth with $30 million in series A financing and a pipeline of therapies for healthy weight loss, including a dual-specific antibody targeting activin type IIA and B receptors for preservation of skeletal muscle mass.
Genmab A/S, in collaboration with Biontech SE, has presented data on a novel OX40 agonist antibody –Hexabody-OX40 (GEN-1055/BNT-315), developed using Genmab’s proprietary Hexabody platform, which promotes the formation of antibody hexamers upon target binding to cell surfaces.
Altrubio Inc. secured up to $225 million in an oversubscribed series B financing round, led by BVF Partners LP. The full amount is dependent on Altrubio meeting certain undisclosed milestones. New investors RA Capital Management, Cormorant Asset Management and Soleus Capital, and existing investors Amoon Fund and Blackstone Multi-Asset Investing, as well as other new and existing investors, also participated in the financing round.
GSK plc’s interleukin-5 (IL-5) portfolio got boost as depemokimab, an ultra-long-acting biologic targeting IL-5, hit its endpoints in two phase III trials in severe asthma, setting up potential filings for the first therapy that could allow patients a six-month dosing schedule.
CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd.’s anti-βKlotho monoclonal antibody drug JMT-202 has received clearance from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to enter clinical trials to lower triglyceride levels in patients with hypertriglyceridemia.
CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd.’s anti-βKlotho monoclonal antibody drug JMT-202 has received clearance from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to enter clinical trials to lower triglyceride levels in patients with hypertriglyceridemia.
Positive data from Novo Nordisk A/S’s pivotal phase IIIa study of once-weekly and once-monthly doses of its hemophilia treatment, Mim8, are prompting the company to say it will submit the first regulatory approval request toward the end of this year. It could challenge Roche Holding AG’s Hemlibra (emicizumab), a bispecific factor IXa- and factor X-directed antibody for hemophilia A, that was approved in 2017 by the U.S. FDA.
Citing a high rate of patients leaving the study, Merck & Co. Inc. has discontinued the anti-TIGIT antibody vibostolimab and the anti-PD-1 Keytruda (pembrolizumab) portion of it phase III Keyvibe-10 trial as an adjuvant treatment for those with resected high-risk melanoma.
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