Two weeks before the start of the 36th annual J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare Conference, the annual gauge of life sciences investor sentiment, organizers caused a firestorm with their decision to bar media from the breakout sessions that follow canned presentations by 480 public and private companies over the four-day meeting.
Apple Tree Partners cultivated its latest startup, Elstar Therapeutics Inc. – named for a European variety of the fruit – packed the C-suite with big pharma veterans and pollinated the newco with a $39 million series A. The round was sized to begin building a pipeline of candidates from Elstar's universal targeted immunotherapy, or Uniti, platform to address both hematologic and solid tumor indications.
Neximmune Inc. played its cards close to the vest after disclosing its acquisition a year ago by the Barer & Son Capital-led syndicate that included Sol Barer, chairman of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and former chairman and CEO of Celgene Corp., Joshua Barer, managing director of Sunflower Life Sciences, and William Hawkins, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic plc.
Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. opened the phase III INTACT (INvestigating Tsc Against Cancerous Tumors) trial of its lead small molecule, trans sodium crocetinate (TSC), in patients with newly diagnosed inoperable glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), seeking to replicate findings from a phase II study in which a subgroup of inoperable GBM patients showed a nearly four-fold increase in survival at two years compared with historical controls (40 percent vs. 10.4 percent) when TSC was added to their treatment regimen.
Flx Bio Inc. completed a $60 million series C, adding GV (formerly Google Ventures) and several undisclosed investors to its syndicate. Existing investors, including the Column Group, Kleiner Perkins, Topspin Partners and Celgene Corp., also joined the round.
Biomx Ltd., of Ness Ziona, Israel, nabbed its Tel Aviv-based neighbor, Rondinx Ltd., in a private deal designed to strengthen its bacterial target discovery capabilities and support its therapeutic pipeline, adding microbial targets for chronic liver disease.
Spark Therapeutics Inc. turned the commercial corner with the FDA's nod for Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl), which became the first gene therapy approved in the U.S. that targets an inherited disease, caused by mutations in a specific gene.
Aptinyx Inc. continued to race down the track by completing a $70 million series B financing to continue advancing its pipeline of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor modulators.
Asklepios Biopharmaceutical Inc. (Askbio) formed Actus Therapeutics Inc., another in its string of so-called spinout special purpose entities, or SPEs, to pursue therapies for rare genetic diseases, beginning with Pompe disease. Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Actus plans to tap Askbio's prowess in rare diseases, its platform of double-strand adeno-associated virus vectors (AAV) and its manufacturing capabilities – in combination with technology licensed from the lab of Dwight Koeberl, professor of pediatrics and a medical genetics specialist at Duke University – to differentiate its approach in gene therapy.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. disclosed its long-awaited plan to restructure operations and reduce its crushing debt, revealing that it will eliminate more than 25 percent of its work force and seek to slash $3 billion in net costs from its bottom line by year-end 2019.
