Hanx Biopharmaceuticals (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. raised HK$586 million (US$75.37 million) in its IPO on the Hong Kong Securities Exchange (HKEX:3378) on Dec. 23 to advance its clinical stage immuno-oncology pipeline.

Immutep Ltd.’s stock surged 31% on Tuesday morning following the news that it out-licensed rights to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. to develop and commercialize eftilagimod (IMP-321, efti) in selected territories in a deal worth AU$528.4 million (US$349.5 million).

2025 has been the most challenging year in the efforts to fight HIV since at least the advent of antiretroviral therapy. In a report on “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response,” released last week ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) described “a global system in shock” by sharply reduced funding from the U.S. and other wealthy nations. Scientifically, for now, progress is ongoing.

In a deal worth up to $840 million, Third Arc Bio Inc. is licensing Adagene Inc.’s Safebody technology platform to generate two masked CD3 T-cell engagers against unique tumor associated antigens.

South Korean researchers led by Lee In-suk of Yonsei University have reported the most complete oral microbiome catalog to date, with more than 72,000 genomes. Detailed in Cell Host & Microbe on Nov. 12, 2025, the database is expected to serve as a universal platform for academia and enable “precision microbiome medicine” for the industry, Lee told BioWorld.

For 75 years, the standard tools for autoimmune disease have consisted of steroids, cytotoxics and broad biologics that tamp down the entire immune system. They can help, but they are rarely curative. “They’re blunt instruments,” Regcell Inc. CEO Mike McCullar told BioWorld. “They can’t distinguish good immune cells and bad immune cells,” which is why many carry black-box warnings and must be taken for years, sometimes for life.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. agreed to codevelop and commercialize up to three of Innovent Biologics Co. Ltd.’s immuno-oncology (I-O) and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidates with the signing of a $11.4 billion deal, including $1.2 billion paid up front.

Clarivate plc has unveiled the 2025 Citation Laureates. Widely considered a predictor of the Nobel Prizes, this recognition has highlighted the discovery of biomolecular condensates in chemistry and the innate immunity signaling pathway in physiology or medicine, as well as the identification of leukemia stem cells and ghrelin, the so-called hunger hormone.

The U.S. FDA approved Merck & Co. Inc.’s Keytruda Qlex (pembrolizumab and berahyaluronidase alfa-pmph) injection on Sept. 19, making it the first and only subcutaneously (SC)-administered immune checkpoint inhibitor that can be administered in about a minute.

SML Biopharm Co. Ltd. is harnessing mRNA technology to develop novel immunotherapy-based cancer vaccines, including two candidates for cervical and head and neck cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.