Allrock Bio Inc. secured $50 million in a series A round co-led by Versant Ventures and Westlake Biopartners to advance ROC-101, an oral pan-rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension with interstitial lung disease.
The U.K.’s failure to join the dots from discovery research to patient access to innovative drugs was cited repeatedly by pharma leaders, who were called to an emergency hearing in parliament on Tuesday to explain decisions to pull out of promised capital investments.
Dualitas Therapeutics Inc. exited stealth mode with a $65 million series A investment that was co-led by Versant Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners USA.
Auravax Therapeutics Inc. has received funding from the Gates Foundation to evaluate the efficacy of Nanosting-001 in validated swine models of influenza infection at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine and The Pirbright Institute.
Cantoni Therapeutics BV has announced the closing of additional financing to advance its lead asset into IND-enabling studies for obesity and its comorbidities. The company is developing small-molecule inhibitors of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT), a promising target for cardiometabolic diseases. Cantoni has also won a Novo Nordisk ValidatioNN grant supporting translational research work on the mode of action of NNMT inhibition.
German bionics leader Ottobock SE & KGaA plans to list on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by the end of the year in an IPO targeting gross proceeds of €100 million (US$117.7 million). Ottobock would be the fourth European company to go public this year, a good sign for the European med-tech market, which had not seen any since the first half of 2022.
Uncertainties brought on by tariffs have certainly dampened the optimism in the med tech sector seen at the beginning of the year, as it has slowed M&A and fundraising activity. However, companies developing differentiated products based on solid technology, supported by substantial clinical data, will attract financing and M&A activity will return, Luc Marengère, managing partner at TVM Capital Life Science, told BioWorld.