Hope Medicine Inc. reported positive interim results for monoclonal antibody HMI-115 in a phase II endometriosis trial that saw the mean non-menstrual pelvic pain score reduced by 50%. “HMI-115 is a prolactin receptor blocker, and we're using it to treat endometriosis and some other diseases. It is a first-in-class new mechanism to treat endometriosis,” Hope Medicine CEO Nathan Chen told BioWorld.

Nanocube Health Ltd. is developing accessible, low-cost nanorobots that could revolutionize diagnosis and treatment of hard-to-diagnose cancers, with pancreatic cancer being the initial focus.

Seaport Therapeutics Inc. has followed up its recent fundraiser with an oversubscribed $225 million series B financing that will help set it on the path to a phase IIb study in major depressive disorder. The company’s lead candidate is allopregnanolone, an endogenous neurosteroid that is taken orally and bypasses the liver. Once it is absorbed through the lymphatic system, allopregnanolone enters through a pathway that avoids the liver and the possibility of hepatoxicity and elevated liver enzyme counts, Michael Chen, Seaport’s chief scientific officer, told BioWorld.

In what represents the first patenting from Cerathrive Ltd., its co-founder and CEO, Sarah Turner, describes their development of the Cera system, which they claim to be the first and only U.S. FDA-cleared red-light device that targets the gut-brain axis to improve focus and energy levels.

The founding CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. is now leading the charge with newly launched City Therapeutics Inc., which just completed a $135 million series A financing. City’s executive chair, John Maraganore, will be in familiar territory as the new company plans to develop RNAi-based medicines using next-generation siRNA engineering. He expects dozens of these therapies to reach the market in a relatively short period of time, not just from City Therapeutics but from other companies. It’s a period in the development timeline that he finds reminiscent of the rise and development of monoclonal antibodies.

The founding CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. is now leading the charge with newly launched City Therapeutics Inc., which just completed a $135 million series A financing. City’s executive chair, John Maraganore, will be in familiar territory as the new company plans to develop RNAi-based medicines using next-generation siRNA engineering. He expects dozens of these therapies to reach the market in a relatively short period of time, not just from City Therapeutics but from other companies. It’s a period in the development timeline that he finds reminiscent of the rise and development of monoclonal antibodies.

Booster Therapeutics is ready to open up a new arm of the proteasome after raising $15 million in seed funding to advance small molecules it says can degrade multiple types of harmful proteins. Rather than tagging single disease proteins with a ubiquitin marker for degrading via 26S proteasomes, these compounds directly activate 20S proteasomes that naturally recognize disordered proteins without the need for ubiquitin tagging.

Booster Therapeutics is ready to open up a new arm of the proteasome after raising $15 million in seed funding to advance small molecules it says can degrade multiple types of harmful proteins. Rather than tagging single disease proteins with a ubiquitin marker for degrading via 26S proteasomes, these compounds directly activate 20S proteasomes that naturally recognize disordered proteins without the need for ubiquitin tagging.

Judo Bio Inc. emerged from stealth mode and rolled out data showing the value of using megalin receptors for intracellular delivery of ligand-small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutics to the kidney as a way of reducing expression of the targeted genes.

In one of the top series A financings in biopharma history, new company Kailera Therapeutics Inc. emerged with $400 million raised and a pipeline of next-generation assets to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes.