Its lead program might have hit a safety snag, but Bioage Labs Inc.’s longevity data platform caught the attention of Novartis AG, which agreed to pay $20 million up front in a collaboration to identify drug targets for aging-related diseases. Taking into account potential long-term research, development and commercial milestones, the agreement could bring in up to an additional $530 million.
The Danish Medicines Agency is to ask the EMA’s pharmacovigilance committee to investigate a potential increased risk of an acute eye condition in diabetic patients being treated with the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist Ozempic (semaglutide).
The potential for TL1A-targeting duvakitug to impact unmet needs of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), and to provide antifibrotic effects for a host of other diseases, boosted shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Sanofi SA by 26.5% and 6.7%, respectively, as the partners released what analysts called “best-in-class” results from the phase IIb Relieve UCCD study and prepare for a phase III trial in 2025.
Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA scored €44 million (US$46.26 million) up front in a potential €117 million licensing deal with EA Pharma Co. Ltd. to pad the clinical runway of its late-stage oral schizophrenia asset, evenamide (NW-3509), sending company stock prices up near 20%.
The EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recommended 17 drugs for approval at its December meeting, bringing the total for 2024 to 114. That is up from the 77 drugs recommended for approval in 2023, of which 39 were novel.
CNS specialist Noema Pharma AG has added a further $44 million to its series B, bringing the total for the round to $147 million. The new financing bolsters the balance sheet as the Basel, Switzerland-based company progresses four phase II trials, with key data readouts expected in 2025.
Relation Therapeutics Ltd. has delivered the first commercial validation of its combined wet lab/in silico platform for homing in on disease-related genes in the thick of the genome, signing two collaboration agreements with GSK plc, with a potential value of $200 million per target.
Citryll BV has closed an €85 million (US$89.8 million) series B, enabling it to take CIT-013, an antibody designed to block pathological neutrophil extracellular traps that drive a wide range of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, into phase IIa development.
The European Commission approved Novo Holding A/S’ acquisition of Catalent Inc., a global contract development and manufacturing organization expected to help Novo Nordisk A/S keep up with increasing demand for its GLP-1 drug, Wegovy (semaglutide).
Tubulis GmbH has sealed a potential $415 million option and licensing deal under which it will apply proprietary technologies to discover an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) against a solid tumor target for Gilead Sciences Inc.
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