Fledgling biotech Ternarx Pty Ltd. has emerged from stealth mode and is the first of its kind in Australia to develop targeted protein degrader technology to destroy disease-causing proteins that cannot be targeted by conventional drugs. The Melbourne-based company will initially develop targeted protein degraders against currently undrugged transcription factors in cancers with significant unmet need, starting with neuroblastoma and prostate cancer.
Marea Therapeutics came out of stealth mode on June 18, after raising a combined $190 million through its series A and B financings. The series A round was led by Third Rock Ventures, and the series B round was led by Sofinnova Investments and co-led by Forbion, Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund and Venbio.
The deaths of two cancer patients treated with the small molecule azenosertib has prompted the U.S. FDA to place a partial clinical hold on a phase I study and two phase II studies from Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. The deaths are presumed by Zentalis to be from sepsis. Both patients who died were in the phase II Denali study of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
Following a day of deals that collectively bring a potential $3.75 billion into three biopharma companies – namely Ascidian Therapeutics Inc., Belharra Therapeutics Inc. and Mabcare Therapeutics – researchers will be busy discovering new therapies for neurological and immunological diseases, and advancing globally a candidate for solid tumors.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has signed an option agreement to in-license Ascentage Pharma Group Inc.’s olverembatinib, an oral third-generation BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). If exercised, the option would allow Takeda to license exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize olverembatinib in all territories outside of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Russia.
Aerovate Therapeutics Inc. is shutting down the ongoing phase III portion of its Impahct study of AV-101, an inhaled version of PDGFR inhibitor imatinib, after reporting top-line data from the phase IIb portion failed to meet primary and secondary endpoints in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). It was a major blow for the single-product company, sending shares (NASDAQ:AVTE) falling 93% to close June 17 at $1.65, down $22.97.
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the FDA’s relaxed regulation of the abortion drug mifepristone when it ruled June 13 that the organizations challenging those changes lacked the standing to do so.
Following a phase II/III failure, Stamford, Conn.-based Cara Therapeutics Inc. discontinued its only pipeline program, that of oral difelikefalin for moderate to severe pruritis in adults with notalgia paresthetica, placing the company’s future in question.
Urogen Pharma Ltd. shares (NASDAQ:URGN) closed June 13 at $17.50, up $4.78, or 37%, on word of an 82.3% 12-month duration of response data by Kaplan-Meier estimate from its phase III Envision study with UGN-102. The finding was made in in low-grade, intermediate-risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer patients who achieved complete response at three months after the first instillation of the drug for intravesical solution.
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery firm Quantumpharm Inc., also known as Xtalpi, began trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange June 13, listing under a new special technology listing track that lured it away from an IPO in the U.S.
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