HONG KONG – Peptidream Inc. has partnered with four other Japanese companies to research and develop peptide therapeutics capable of neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as potential future coronavirus outbreaks. Peptiaid Inc., the joint venture established with Fujitsu Ltd., Mizuho Financial Group Inc. subsidiary Mizuho Capital Co. Ltd., Takenaka Corp. and Kishida Chemical Co. Ltd., will have capital totaling ¥599 million (US$5.73 million) by Dec. 31.
Seed Therapeutics Inc. signed a massive deal with Eli Lilly and Co. on Nov. 12, a date that resonated deeply with Seed’s CEO, Lan Huang. Twenty-one years earlier to the day she published a pioneering paper on cancer signaling pathways involving p53 degradation in Science. “It’s a magical coincidence that exactly 21 years later we have this deal with Lilly,” she told BioWorld, a deal with protein degradation at its core. In the new research collaboration and license agreement, Seed will receive $10 million cash up front to fund research along with a $10 million equity investment from Lilly.
3D Medicines Inc. has licensed in from Aravive Inc. a phase Ib-completed GAS6/AXL inhibitor known as AVB-500 in a deal worth up to $219 million. The Chinese firm will have the rights to develop and commercialize the drug candidate across all oncology indications in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
HONG KONG – Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has signed a research and development collaboration agreement with fellow Israeli biotech company Mybiotics Pharma Ltd. to identify and optimize the selected microbiome repertoire associated with the response to Aramchol (arachidyl amido cholanoic acid), Galmed’s fatty acid bile acid conjugate treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
Mymd Pharmaceuticals Inc., the privately held developer of a synthetic derivative of tobacco alkaloids for the potential treatment of autoimmune diseases and age-related disorders, will soon list on Nasdaq via its acquisition of former point-of-care testing company Akers Biosciences Inc., shares of which (NASDAQ:AKER) climbed 29.1% to $2.22 on Nov. 12. The combined company, to be headquartered in Baltimore, will retain Mymd's name and adopt the trading symbol MYMD. Concurrent with the merger, Akers is raising $18 million in a private placement priced at-the-market.
DUBLIN – Affimed NV has found another taker for its tetravalent bispecific antibody-based innate cell engager (ICE) platform. Roivant Sciences GmbH is putting down $40 million in cash, plus another $20 million of its own stock, as part of a multiprogram alliance involving AFM-32 plus additional molecules directed at targets not currently addressed by Affimed’s pipeline. Some $2 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestones are also attached to the deal.
DUBLIN – Vifor Pharma Group is paying $60 million, including $30 million up front and $30 million in equity investment, to secure rights to Angion Biomedica Corp.’s hepatocyte growth factor mimetic, ANG-3777, in all nephrology indications.
Fochon Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., out-licensed FCN-338, a BCL-2 inhibitor, to Eli Lilly and Co. for an up-front payment of $40 million along with milestones and royalties. The deal marks another example of Chinese biotech companies reversing the licensing flow.
In another multibillion-dollar bid to further strengthen its oncology pipeline, Merck & Co. Inc. is set to acquire privately held Velosbio Inc. for $2.75 billion in cash. Velosbio is developing cancer therapies targeting receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1. The company’s follow-on programs include next-generation antibody-drug conjugates and bispecific immune-engagers targeting ROR1, which it has been developing for nearly two years.
HONG KONG – Humanigen Inc. has executed its first licensing agreement in the Asia-Pacific region, in a deal worth up to $20 million that gives Telcon RF Pharmaceutical Inc. and KPM Tech Co. Ltd. the development and commercialization rights to lenzilumab for COVID-19 in South Korea and the Philippines.
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