DUBLIN – DBV Technologies SA reported further progress from its patch-based peanut allergy therapy, Viaskin Peanut, at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) congress in Los Angeles over the weekend, including 52-week data from a phase II trial conducted by the Consortium of Food Allergy Research (Cofar) and sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.
DUBLIN – Autolus Ltd. bagged £40 million (US$56.6 million) in a series B round to take forward its next-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell technology, a little more than a year after it took in £30 million in series A funding.
DUBLIN – Avvinity Therapeutics Ltd., a newly created joint venture between Horizon Discovery Group plc and start-up firm Centauri Therapeutics Ltd., is getting up to £5.3 million (US$7.4 million) in series A funding to apply Centauri’s Alphamer anti-infectives technology to immuno-oncology indications.
DUBLIN – Onxeo SA is picking up a new, clinical-stage approach to tackling cancer for a minimal outlay. The company is acquiring fellow French firm, DNA Therapeutics SA, for just €1.7 million (US$1.85 million) in stock initially, plus a second payment of €1 million in stock, to be triggered by the start of a phase II trial of DNA Therapeutics' lead drug candidate DT01. Most of the deal value is back-end-loaded.
DUBLIN – Abivax SA has seen enough of an efficacy signal in a phase IIa trial of its first-in-class HIV drug ABX464 to warrant another phase IIa, to test its potential to delay viral rebound after cessation of therapy. "It's a proof of concept – it's a small phase IIa again," Abivax's chief medical officer, Jean-Marc Steens, told BioWorld Today.
DUBLIN – French immunotherapy firms Orphan Synergy Europe (OSE) Pharma SA and Effimune SAS are pooling their resources in a stock-based transaction, with the aim of creating scale in a rapidly moving field. The deal values Nantes-based Effimune at €30.4 million (US$33.5 million), based on OSE's closing share price (PARIS:OSE) of €7.60 Wednesday. The combined company will be called OSE Immunotherapeutics SA.
DUBLIN – The market decided that Radius Health Inc. was the big winner when Amgen Inc. and UCB SA unveiled their long-awaited phase III data for romosozumab (AMG785, CDP7851) on reducing the risk of fracture in osteoporosis.
DUBLIN – The FDA issued Merck & Co. Inc. a complete response letter to its supplemental new drug applications for cholesterol-lowering drugs Zetia (ezetimibe) and Vytorin (ezetimibe and simvastatin), which sought to add claims that they reduced the risk of cardiovascular events, including death, to existing label claims on lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).
DUBLIN – European biopharmas have made a sleepy start to the new year, but with spring on the way, two transactions unveiled Friday could be harbingers of more activity to come. The scale is modest.
DUBLIN – Atlantic Healthcare plc has begun recruitment onto a pivotal phase III trial of the antisense drug alicaforsen in ulcerative colitis patients with pouchitis who are refractory to antibiotic therapy.
