DUBLIN – ITM Isotope Technologies Munich (ITM) SE has secured its first radiopharmaceutical licensing deal in China, a pact with Grand Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. involving two radiopharmaceutical candidates, as well as a companion diagnostic for one of them.
DUBLIN – Novartis AG is deepening its commitment to ocular gene therapy by picking up Gyroscope Therapeutics Ltd. for $800 million up front and up to $700 million more in potential milestone payments.
DUBLIN – The EMA has rejected Biogen Inc.’s application for European Union approval of Aduhelm (aducanumab), its controversial Alzheimer’s disease drug. Its human medicines committee (CHMP) issued a negative opinion on Biogen’s dossier during its December meeting this week, stating that the data from the key studies submitted in support of the application “were conflicting and did not show overall that Aduhelm was effective at treating adults with early stage Alzheimer’s disease.”
DUBLIN – Anaveon AG raised CHF110 million (US$119.5 million) in a series B round to accelerate development of its interleukin-2 (IL-2) agonist ANV-419, which is currently undergoing a phase I/II trial. “We are putting our compound into multiple clinical trials and multiple indications in parallel,” CEO and co-founder Andreas Katopodis told BioWorld.
DUBLIN – Fans of “His Dark Materials” and the “Book of Dust,” Philip Pullman’s series of fantasy novels set in Oxford, U.K. and more remote corners of the earth, are familiar with alethiometers. In the hands of a highly select number of characters, these complex, compass-like devices can interrogate a mysterious substance called “dust” – an elementary particle associated with consciousness – and provide trusted answers to the most crucial questions.
DUBLIN – Immatics NV is banking $150 million up front and could earn up to $770 million more in development, regulatory and commercial milestones from a licensing deal with Bristol Myers Squibb Co. involving IMA-401, its lead bispecific engineered T-cell receptor (TCR).
Orca Bio Inc. reported at the American Society of Hematology that cancer patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) who received its Orca-T cell therapy product achieved higher rates of survival without experiencing either relapse or chronic graft-vs.-host (GvHD) disease than those who received a conventional graft.
Newpath Partners closed its second fund with a $350 million raise, to continue its model of backing scientist-entrepreneurs during the earliest stages of company formation. The Boston-based firm works closely with a tight circle of influential scientific leaders to establish firms with high levels of scientific originality – and high ambitions to match.
Shares in Isofol Medical AB dropped by 27% on Dec. 6 as the company informed investors that its ongoing phase III trial of arfolitixorin in metastatic colorectal cancer would not reach the predefined number of events needed to demonstrate a statistically significant effect on progression-free survival (PFS) based on the study’s present statistical plan.
