Isomab Ltd has closed a £7.5 million (US$9.4 million) seed financing round. The company is developing isoform-specific disease-modifying antibody treatments for serious and life-threatening diseases with an initial focus on peripheral ischemia.
Autoantibodies call to mind disease – autoimmune disease, to be exact. But the physiological roles of autoantibodies are, at the very least, more complex than this view accounts for. “The autoantibody reactome is extraordinary,” Aaron Ring told BioWorld. “Nearly everyone has autoantibodies, whether they know it or not.”
Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has entered into an option and collaboration agreement with Numab Therapeutics AG to develop and commercialize a novel multispecific macrophage engager, NM-49, in oncology.
It has been shown that vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) induces blood-brain barrier disruption and vasogenic edema and it is up-regulated in stroke. When bound to its receptor, VEGF promotes angiogenesis and neuroprotection, in addition to inducing vasogenic edema. VST Bio Ltd. and Yale University have presented data on their monoclonal antibody against syndecan-2, named VST-002, that completely blocks VEGF-driven vasogenic edema while preserving neuroprotective effects.
Agonists of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1RAs) have emerged as effective treatments for obesity, but have a negative impact on lean mass during weight loss.
More than 30 years after entering the scene as a first-generation monoclonal antibody pioneer, Morphosys AG is to be acquired by Novartis AG for €2.7 billion (US$2.9 billion). The all-cash deal, announced after Nasdaq closed on Feb. 5, will see Novartis paying €68 per share, a premium of 94% to the average daily price in the month leading up to Jan. 25, when rumors of a takeover started swirling.
Previous research has shown that the three isoforms of transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) have distinct cellular expression patterns, with TGF-β2 and TGF-β3 expression being specifically elevated in human fibrotic lung and liver tissue. Since pan-TGF-β inhibition had proven to be toxic for chronic use, in recent work, researchers from Genentech Inc. aimed to assess whether specifically targeting one of the TGF-β isoforms could represent a novel therapeutic option for patients with chronic fibrotic disorders.
23andme Holding Co. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for 23ME-01473 (‘1473), a dual mechanism antibody and natural killer (NK) cell activator intended to treat cancer.
Domain Therapeutics SA has been awarded a grant as part of the Hospital-University Research in Health (RHU) SPRINT consortium, which seeks to progress a precision medicine for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL).
Calluna Pharma Inc., formed last year following the merger of Oxitope Pharma BV and Arxx Therapeutics AS, has raised €75 million (US$81.4 million) in a series A financing.
RSS
