ABL Bio Inc. announced April 7 that it sealed a potential £2.075 billion (US$2.65 billion) license deal with GSK plc, granting GSK global rights to use ABL’s blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetrating bispecific antibody platform, Grabody-B, to develop multiple programs in the neurodegenerative disease arena. Under the terms signed April 5, ABL agreed to transfer Grabody-B-related technology and know-how to GSK, upon which GSK will assume responsibility for preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization.
The latest obesity contender, Antag Therapeutics A/S, has dosed the first participants in a phase I trial of a glucose-dependent insulinotrophic polypeptide (GIP) agonist it said will address key gaps in the current treatment options, not least the gastrointestinal side effects seen with GLP-1 agonists.
At first glance, it appears that biopharmaceuticals dodged the latest U.S. tariff bullet; med-tech, not so much. According to the executive order President Donald Trump signed in the Rose Garden late yesterday, pharmaceuticals are one of the few things exempt from the new country-by-country reciprocal tariffs that will be going into effect over the next week. However, U.S.-based manufacturers of both drugs and devices could face supply chain disruptions, further market restrictions and increased operating costs as the new tariffs take effect and other countries retaliate.
Anocca AB has secured the first regulatory authorization in Europe for a CRISPR-Cas gene-edited T-cell receptor T-cell therapy trial, with the phase I/II study now due to start over the next three months at sites in Sweden, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
French biotech Pep-Therapy SAS is in the midst of raising a €20 million (US$21.62 million) round and, at the same time, prospecting for potential partners after winning FDA orphan drug designation for its bifunctional peptide Pep-010 in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Pep-010 currently is moving to the conclusion of a phase Ib trial and the new money will fund phase II development.
It was a mixed day for Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which disclosed separately on March 28 both the termination of a $336 million licensing deal with CS Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and upbeat plans to unveil three new oncology assets at the upcoming American Association for Cancer Research in April.
As companies continually search for next-generation obesity prospects, one of the leaders in the disease space, Novo Nordisk A/S, has obtained an exclusive license to a preclinical-stage, first-in-class, small-molecule inhibitor of Acyl-CoA synthetase 5 (ACSL5) developed by Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc.
The EMA has rejected the Alzheimer’s disease therapy Kisunla (donanemab) from Eli Lilly and Co., saying the benefits of the anti-amyloid antibody do not outweigh the risks of edema and hemorrhage in the brain, known as amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA).
The first disease modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s may have limited utility in some senses, but they will be a force for change, providing momentum and altering the way governments as payers, and health systems as carers, think about the disease.
Astrazeneca plc is investing heavily in China, signing two R&D deals, worth up to about $8 billion in up-front payments and milestones combined, with Chinese companies Harbour Biomed Ltd. and Syneron Bio, establishing a joint venture with Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. (Biokangtai) for vaccines, and creating a new R&D center in Beijing through another $2.5 billion investment.
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