Comparing the expansion of a young biopharma to the maintenance of a home, Terry Rosen, CEO of Arcus Biosciences Inc., pointed out that "If you think you're going to sell your house in six months, you put on a fresh coat of paint and new hardware on the doors. But if you're going to stay for 30 years, you fix everything inside the walls. Nobody can see it, but you've built a much stronger structure." At Arcus, he told BioWorld, "We're building a special, unique, long-term place."

One criticism of genetic approaches to cancer treatment has been that they don't actually improve care for most patients. But as the number of targeted drugs has expanded exponentially as part of the ongoing cancer immunotherapy push and genetic research has advanced, that may no longer be the case.

The cannabinoid story is hardly new to biopharma. The first cannabinoid therapeutics were approved roughly two decades ago, but only four drugs targeting the brain's cannabinoid receptors have made it to market, targeting narrow indications associated with cancer, neuropathic pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) or cachexia.

Pfizer Inc., of New York, said the FDA approved CD22-directed antibody-drug conjugate Besponsa (inotuzumab ozogamicin) for adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Fibrogen Inc.'s $326 million offering on the heels of Street-pleasing phase II data with pamrevlumab (previously FG-3019) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) turned investor eyes to other prospects for the indication, prompting comparisons between them – such as they could be made – and attempts to stack pipeline candidates against two marketed products.

LONDON – Destiny Pharma Ltd. is to go public on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London next month, raising around £10 million to fund a phase IIb trial of its first-in-class antibiotic XF-73, in the prevention of post-surgical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Kite Pharma Inc., of Santa Monica, Calif., reported the results of a small National Cancer Institute (NCI) dose-escalation study that tested a T-cell receptor (TCR) therapy of the same type it is testing in a recently-started phase Ia/b trial called KITE-718.

Roka Bioscience Inc., of Warren, N.J., said it entered an agreement with Rokabio Inc., a newly formed, wholly owned subsidiary of Institute for Environmental Health Inc., of Lake Forest Park, Wash., for the sale of substantially all of Roka's assets in an all-cash transaction for $17.5 million.