Although details are yet to come, Equillium Inc.’s chief medical officer, Krishna Polu, told BioWorld that the company will move “urgently and expeditiously” to set up another experiment testing itolizumab in COVID-19 now that Bangalore, India-based partner Biocon Ltd. has unveiled positive phase II results with the CD6-targeting agent.
Two California companies – Nkarta Inc. and Poseida Therapeutics Inc. – scored impressive IPOs but with decidedly different post-pricing performance, as Wall Street showed its enthusiasm for the former’s natural killer (NK) cell research by pushing shares (NASDAQ:NKTX) up 166%, to close July 10 at $47.90, an increase of $29.90.
Zymeworks Inc.’s business update – which included a new, potential $891 million deal for multispecific antibody drugs with longtime partner Merck & Co. Inc. – drew mixed reviews from Wall Street, especially with regard to phase I prospect ZW-49.
Kiadis Pharma NV’s takeover last year of Cytosen Therapeutics Inc. to get a natural killer (NK) platform paid off in a potentially huge way, with Sanofi SA paying €17.5 million (US$19.7 million) up front in a licensing deal with as much as €857.5 million more if preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial goals are reached, as well as up to double-digit royalties.
Corvus Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s success in treating a COVID-19 patient previously diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with CPI-006 helped boost shares (NASDAQ:CRVS) to $4.96, up $2.21, or 181%, as the Burlingame, Calif.-based company disclosed the start of a phase I study to investigate the anti-CD73 immunotherapy prospect.
Geneva-based Obseva SA’s top-line data from the pivotal phase III studies called Primrose 1 and 2 with GnRH antagonist Yselty (linzagolix) pleased the company, but Wall Street not so much.
Bolt Biotherapeutics Inc.’s $93.5 million series C round “takes us well into the back end of 2021 and into 2022,” CEO Randall Schatzman told BioWorld, with enough money that the firm is “not impeded in terms of the creativity [we’re] bringing to the table.”
Shares of Heron Therapeutics Inc. sank 27% in morning trading, after the San Diego-based firm disclosed a second complete response letter (CRL) for HTX-011 in postoperative pain. The CRL, received from the FDA on June 26, the anticipated PDUFA date, stated the agency was unable to approve the NDA in its present form and called for additional nonclinical information.
A pair of upsized IPOs packed away cash by way of identical terms, with Boston-based Akouos Inc. and Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Hamilton, Ontario, separately selling 12.5 million shares at $17 each for $212.5 million in gross proceeds.
