Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s deal to take over Cambridge, Mass.-based Semma Therapeutics Inc. for $950 million in cash – thereby bringing aboard a potential cure for type 1 diabetes – may have brought to mind another Cambridge player in the space: Sigilon Therapeutics Inc., which inked a whopper deal with Eli Lilly and Co. in April of last year.
CEO Travis Mickle said prodrug-focused Kempharm Inc.'s potential $493 million deal with Gurnet Point Capital (GPC) marks "the end of a long journey to reach a very valuable point" in the story of the company, which has "ended with the same goal it started with" – gaining the best possible partner for attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) prospects KP-415 and KP-484.
Shares of San Diego-based Cidara Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CDTX) enjoyed a skyward ride, closing Tuesday at $2.35, up 67 cents, or 40%, on word of a deal with Mundipharma International Ltd., of Cambridge, U.K., to develop and commercialize rezafungin for invasive fungal infections. "Historically, [antifungal] pricing has been much stronger in the EU, so that is an important opportunity for us and now for Mundipharma as well," Cidara CEO Jeffrey Stein said.
Merus N.V.'s second-quarter earnings report included an important update on phase I MCLA-117, which Jefferies analyst Maury Raycroft said could be a best-in-class "game-changer" for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) – a candidate that "alone is a reason to own the stock," in his view.
Newark, Calif.-based Protagonist Therapeutics Inc.'s third-quarter earnings call included an update on hepcidin mimetic PTG-300 in beta-thalassemia, but other prospects in the pipeline are starting to excite investors as well.
Kidney-disease player Chinook Therapeutics Inc. CEO Eric Dobmeier told BioWorld that the company's $65 million series A round provides "a few years of money at the current pace. I'm hopeful we're going to make progress, have really good use of proceeds, and be out there raising money again to advance the company, because there's just such a huge unmet need right now."
The FDA cleared Rozlytrek (entrectinib) for the treatment of adults with ROS1-positive, metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer, also granting accelerated approval to the tyrosine kinase inhibitor for adult and pediatric patients (12 and older) with solid tumors that have a NTRK gene fusion.
Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer Elizabeth Jeffords told BioWorld that the endpoints in Alkahest Inc.'s just-begun phase II trial with human plasma fraction GRF-6021 will not only test how well patients bounce back from hip or knee arthroplasty but "could absolutely support the work in cognitive and neurodegenerative indications as well," where data rolled out earlier this month.
Monopar Therapeutics Inc., another company looking to attack the bane of many cancer patients – severe oral mucositis (SOM) – has filed for a $40.2 million IPO that will help advance into phase III its mucobuccal tablet of the adrenergic alpha2 agonist clonidine, branded Validive.
