Two years after signing a $1.6 billion partnership with Marengo Therapeutics Inc., Paris-based Ipsen SA is back at it again, this time teaming up for two additional assets that target “cold” tumors in a deal that could bring privately held Marengo $1.2 billion. “We do something really novel and innovative and I think it’s very important to continue to validate it,” Marengo CEO Zhen Su told BioWorld, adding that with the newest deal, “we see validation all around this … It’s a success on success.”

Isotope Technologies Munich SE (ITM) raised €188 million ($204 million) in a funding round that will largely be used to advance and expand the company’s radiopharmaceutical pipeline. The funds, which come a year after ITM raised €255 million, are a sign of growing investor interest in the company’s products and the radiopharma market, Steffen Schuster, CEO of ITM, told BioWorld.

Xeltis BV hopes that promising data from clinical trials on the performance of its synthetic vascular access graft implant will transform not only the lives of patients suffering from chronic kidney disease but also the company’s fortunes. “We're outperforming other solutions out there, that's the nice promise not only for the patient and for the families but also for potential strategics that might be interested in the company and play a role in the vascular space,” Eliane Schutte, CEO of Xeltis told BioWorld.

Obesity specialist Sixpeaks Bio AG emerged from stealth with $110 million in funding and an option to be acquired by Astrazeneca plc within the next two years, subject to filing an IND for the lead product. Of the $110 million, $30 million is a series A round, with the balance to come from Astrazeneca, which will provide nondilutive finance of up to $80 million.

China’s Medilink Therapeutics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. and Germany’s Biontech SE signed another potential $1 billion-plus deal for novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targets, building off the first ADC-based licensing deal from last year.

Although consensus was not reached on the World Health Organization’s pandemic agreement, the World Health Assembly recognized the progress made by member states to develop a pandemic agreement and to strengthen International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005) during the 77th World Health Assembly meeting held May 27 to June 1 in Geneva.

The €1.5 million ($US1.63 million) in pre-seed funding recently raised by En Carta Diagnostics SA is “key” for the company to be able to develop its point-of-care molecular diagnostics kits and generate clinical data, Guillaume Horreard, CEO at En Carta told BioWorld.