Anokion SA, a Swiss biotech focused on autoimmune disease, is bringing in-house a startup it spun out for a development alliance with Astellas Pharma Inc. The acquisition of Kanyos Bio Inc., announced alongside news it closed a $40 million series B financing, puts front and center KAN-101, a preclinical celiac disease drug poised for an IND filing by year-end. Together with Anokion's lead candidate, ANK-780, an antigen-specific treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS), the company anticipates having two programs in clinical development within the next 12 months.

DUBLIN – Inotrem SA raised €39 million (US$42.9 million) in a series B round to finance a phase IIb trial of its first-in-class septic shock drug candidate, nangibotide, along with a candidate biomarker that may enable it to select patients most likely to benefit from the therapy.

HONG KONG & BEIJING – Chinese biosimilar maker Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. is ready to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on its second try. The firm plans to issue 64.7 million shares globally under the stock code 2696. The maximum offer price is HK$57.8 per share, which means the biosimilar maker could raise as much as HK$3.74 billion (US$477 million).

DUBLIN – Genenta Science Srl raised €13.2 million (US$14.6 million) in new funding to progress its genetically engineered autologous hematopoietic progenitor cell therapy designed to reprogram the immunological milieu within the tumor microenvironment.

BEIJING – Chinese T-cell immunotherapy specialist Immunotech Biopharm Ltd., of Beijing, has become the seventh pre-revenue biotech on the waiting list to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). In an application filed last week, the specific amount was not disclosed, but company said much of the proceeds are expected to advance its lead candidate targeting liver cancer.

LONDON – 4BIO Capital announced the first close of its second fund at $50 million, to be exclusively invested in advanced therapies, including cell and gene therapies, RNA drugs that silence or activate genes, oncolytic vaccines and the microbiome.