Orionis Biosciences Inc. is sticking with Genentech Inc. in a second deal to discover small-molecule monovalent glue therapies for treating cancer. Privately held Orionis is getting $105 million up front and could earn more than $2 billion in R&D, development, commercial and net sales milestones, plus royalties. The multiyear collaboration calls for Orionis to handle discovery and optimization of molecular glues, with Genentech in charge of later-stage preclinical and clinical development, regulatory filing and commercialization of any small molecules the partnership produces.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Alligator, Bayer, Quoin, Repair.
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Astrazeneca, Blueprint, Crispr, Esobiotec, Kancera, Recardio, Sirius, Vantai.
New hires and promotions in the biopharma industry, including: Aardvark, Aligos, Grünenthal, Marea, Pepgen, Schrödinger, Shift, Slingshot, Upstream, Veraxa.
Immuneoncia Therapeutics Inc. raised ₩33.9 billion (US$24 million) from its Kosdaq listing May 19. Shares closed at ₩7,500 – 108% higher than its offering price of ₩3,600 per share. Immuneoncia, a joint venture founded in 2016 between Seoul, South Korea-based Yuhan Corp. and San Diego-based Sorrento Therapeutics Inc., noted that the funds will support R&D operations until 2026.
Anti-aging specialist Juvenescence Ltd. reached the first close of its series B-1 at $76 million and said it is on course to close the round at $150 million in the third quarter of 2025. “The reason for the first close and not waiting for the very end is just so we can start to move the pipeline forward,” said Richard Marshall, CEO. “We’ve got molecules in and waiting to go, so the sooner we can get going on those, the better,” he told BioWorld.
A drug that failed in a phase III trial in 2019 is being brought back to the clinic by Repronovo SA, a fertility and women’s health startup that has raised $65 million in a series A. The money will fund a phase II study of nolasiban in improving success rates in assisted reproductive technology, the same indication as the previous phase III failure.
Although HER2-targeted therapies have become a mainstay in cancer treatment, some tumors evade them by stripping away the portion of the HER2 receptor that most therapies are built to recognize and bind to, but Taiwan’s AP Biosciences Inc. is developing bispecific antibody AP-402 to address treatment-resistant HER2+ cancers.
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