DUBLIN – Liquid biopsy developer Freenome Inc. has – literally – capitalized on its recent proof-of-concept AI-Emerge colorectal cancer (CRC) screening study by raising $270 million in a series C round that will enable the South San Francisco firm to complete its ongoing Preempt CRC registration study and to file for pre-market approval from the FDA.

DUBLIN – Ipsen SA is on track for an NDA filing for palovarotene in fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), an ultra-rare disease characterized by the gradual replacement of skeletal muscle and connective tissue with bone, following an interim analysis of phase III data which indicates that the drug may have a substantial effect on the disease process.

DUBLIN – Adrenomed AG has reported encouraging, albeit limited, data for its antibody adrecizumab in eight COVID-19 patients in Germany with life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The drug was made available on a named-patient basis to critically ill patients undergoing mechanical ventilation.

DUBLIN – Versant Ventures is committing $35 million in series A funding to Bright Peak Therapeutics Inc., which is developing a pipeline of engineered cytokines that are produced using a novel chemical synthesis technique rather than the recombinant methods that have underpinned more than four decades of biotechnology development.

DUBLIN – Although Europe has moved first to approve Blenrep (belantamab mafodotin), Glaxosmithkline plc’s antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) as a fifth-line therapy in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, U.S. patients may well be first to gain access to the new drug.

DUBLIN – Tubulis GmbH raised €10.7 million (US$12.3 million) in a series A round to progress a next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) platform, which, it claims, will improve both the stability of ADC constructs and the efficiency with which they are generated.

DUBLIN – Roche Holding AG has joined Jnana Therapeutics Inc. in its quest to drug the human repertoire of solute carrier (SLC) metabolite transporters as a means of tackling a swath of immune-mediated and neurological diseases. The Basel, Switzerland-based pharma is paying Boston-based Jnana $40 million up front and could pay over $1 billion more in research funding, preclinical, development and commercial milestones, as well as sales royalties, in a multitarget deal.

DUBLIN – Synairgen plc has detected what appear to be promising efficacy signals in a phase II trial of its inhaled formulation of interferon-beta 1a, SNG-001, in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.