Shares in Addex Therapeutics Ltd. (Zurich:ADXN) dropped 48% June 17 on news that the company had terminated a pivotal phase IIb/III study of dipraglurant as a potential treatment for dyskinesia in Parkinson’s disease.
Bioinvent International AB is banking an up-front payment of $25 million as part of an option and license agreement with Exelixis Inc., which aims to discover antibodies acting on new immuno-oncology targets. Further financial details were not disclosed, but the alliance entails the discovery of three novel targets and their associated antibodies, identified through Bioinvent’s F.I.R.S.T. screening platform and its n-Coder antibody library.
Imcheck Therapeutics SAS raised €80 million (US $83.5 million) in a series C round to maintain the momentum of its lead development program, ICT-01, an immunostimulatory antibody that activates gamma-delta T cells.
Affibody AB and its development partners, Acelyrin Inc. and Inmagene Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., are accelerating plans to move izokibep into phase III studies in psoriatic arthritis following better-than-expected phase II efficacy combined with an apparently clean safety profile.
Immunos Therapeutics AG closed a $74 million series B round to progress its first-in-class, multifunctional immuno-oncology drug candidate, IOS-1002, and to expand further its pipeline of biologic drugs based on immuno-stimulatory human leukocyte antigen molecules.
Affibody AB and its development partners, Acelyrin Inc. and Inmagene Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., are accelerating plans to move the interleukin-17A inhibitor izokibep (formerly ABY-035) into phase III studies in psoriatic arthritis following better-than-expected phase II efficacy combined with an apparently clean safety profile.
Healiva SA, a Swiss wound care specialist, emerged from stealth mode having acquired two cell therapy assets from Smith & Nephew plc. Financial terms were not disclosed, but they included an up-front payment as well as “deferred benefits,” Healiva CEO and founder Priyanka Dutta-Passecker told BioWorld. The deal means that the Lugano-based company – which was formed in 2020 – could be booking revenues as early as 2023.
Shares in Swedish biotech firm Rhovac AB collapsed May 30 on news that its therapeutic cancer vaccine, RV-001 (onilcamotide), failed to exhibit efficacy in a phase IIb trial in metastatic prostate cancer. The stock lost 94% of its value when trading opened on the Spotlight junior exchange in Stockholm.
Interim phase I data from 16 patients with refractory metastatic uveal melanoma provide a tantalizing hint that Ionctura SA’s phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) delta inhibitor IOA-244 PI3 may offer a survival benefit. Thirteen of the 16 patients –
81.25% – remained alive and on therapy after 12 months of treatment. All had received one or more prior therapies.
Springworks Therapeutics Inc. plans to file an NDA for its lead drug candidate, nirogacestat, for treating desmoid tumors later this year, as top-line data from a pivotal phase III trial indicate that it provided patients with a substantial progression-free survival benefit.
