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.
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.
A handful of developers are advancing drug prospects in the localized scleroderma (LS) space, with candidate mechanisms that range from cell-based gene therapy to IL-4 or IL-6 antagonism to PDE4 blocking, and with efforts that involve approved as well as experimental compounds.
Targeted protein degradation (TPD) specialist Plexium Inc.’s potential $565 million deal with Abbvie Inc. came on the heels of a tie-up with Amgen Inc. in February worth as much as $500 million-plus, as well as an oversubscribed $102 million financing the same month – all of which translates into “optionality, moving forward, to keep our heads down, do the work we’re really good at and continue to watch the market,” said CEO Percival Barretto-Ko.
Among the attention-getters at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting April 8-13 was protein-degradation specialist Kymera Therapeutics Inc., which made the preclinical case for its approach in murine double minute 2 (MDM2) research vs. an inhibitor. The MDM2 space has grown increasingly busy in recent years, with large and small biopharma concerns moving ahead with research in all phases of development.
