Atara Biotherapeutics Inc. is keeping the faith and figuring out next steps with its next-generation, mesothelin-directed CAR T-cell therapies after Bayer AG ended their exclusive worldwide licensing agreement, signed in late 2020. The setup included funding and development of ATA-3271, an armored allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy, and an autologous version, ATA-2271, for high mesothelin-expressing tumors such as malignant pleural mesothelioma and non-small-cell lung cancer.
A paper published May 3 in Nature Communications about a patient infected with Mycobacterium chelonae who was cured by way of bacteriophage treatment sparked more intrigue around how to attack the nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) group of bugs that cause lung infections.
Cullinan Oncology Inc.’s lead program deal with Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd. subsidiary Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. brings $275 million up front and the potential for as much as $130 million in regulatory milestone payments.
Apollo Global Management Inc. is taking a minority equity interest in European venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners, pledging to commit of up to €1 billion (US$1.04 billion) in managed capital to the latter’s investment coffers.
As the six-month interim analysis of phase II data for ATA-199 in progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) nears, investors in Atara Biotherapeutics Inc. – not to mention patients – are growing more intrigued by the prospect, an off-the-shelf T-cell candidate that targets Epstein Barr virus-infected B cells and plasma cells in the central nervous system.
Cullinan Oncology Inc.’s lead program deal with Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd. subsidiary Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. brings $275 million up front and the potential for as much as $130 million in regulatory milestone payments.
Nuvig Therapeutics Inc. emerged from stealth mode with a $47 million series A round to back efforts to develop drugs that induce immune homeostasis as a way of treating autoimmune diseases without disturbing the system’s normal function.
As the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting nears, presenters are talking up their prospects, including Biomea Fusion Inc. with early data from experiments testing BMF-219, an oral, irreversible covalent menin inhibitor – one in an intriguing class that has sparked efforts by various developers.
Not long ago, people who touted the prospects of psychedelic drugs might have been accused of hallucinating, but in the U.S. and elsewhere the space has expanded in recent years, as mental health treatments remain “stuck where cancer was 50 years ago,” said Roth analyst Elemer Piros.
Pfizer Inc. is taking over Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd. for $11.6 billion to bring aboard Nurtec ODT (rimegepant), the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist first approved in February 2020 for acute migraine in adults with or without aura.
