Gracell Biotechnologies Inc. has closed a $100 million series C financing round to advance its CAR T-cell therapy candidates, including autologous product candidate, GC-012F, and allogeneic product candidate, GC-027. Both candidates are in investigator-initiated phase I trials in China.

PARIS – At the recent annual HealthTech Innovations Days in Paris, the European investment Fund (EIF) and the world’s largest life sciences consortium, EIT Health Germany, reported the development of a Venture Centre of Excellence (VCoE) in Europe.

Longboard Pharmaceuticals Inc. is spinning out from Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., courtesy of a $56 million financing to help develop CNS-targeted therapies. On the table to be developed are compounds discovered using Arena’s G protein-coupled receptor research engine.

PERTH, Australia – Opthea Ltd. completed a $128.2 million IPO on the U.S. Nasdaq market, which will fund two phase III trials in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and bring the company’s lead candidate, OPT-302, to market if successful.