Being in a crowded space doesn’t bother recently installed Arch Oncology Inc. CEO Laurence Blumberg. As a matter of fact, he’s reassured by it. “There’s a lot of competition in CD47, that’s correct,” Blumberg told BioWorld. “But having been in industry for a long time, competition and the magnitude of that competition in pursuit of a target usually means there’s a good reason for that interest and that there’s compelling evidence it has utility.”
One of the keys to making a schizophrenia drug work is reducing the side effects, which, if they are powerful enough, will often cause patients to cease the treatment. Laxminarayan Bhat, Reviva Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc.’s CEO, told BioWorld that new phase II data of the company’s lead candidate shows the drop-out rate was low compared to other schizophrenia drugs.
New phase IIb clinical trial data show the antigen R-21, a malaria vaccine candidate created by the University of Oxford that uses Novavax Inc.'s Matrix-M adjuvant, demonstrated 77% efficacy in children.
After cutting a deal worth up to $1.1 billion with Crispr Therapeutics AG, it took Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. only two days to come up with another collaboration that could top the $1 billion mark, this time with Obsidian Therapeutics Inc.
In biotech and biopharma’s third-largest ever up-front development and commercialization deal, Crispr Therapeutics AG will receive an initial $900 million in an amended deal with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. to lead the development, manufacturing and commercialization of gene editing therapy CTX-001 for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia.
The race to tame COVID-19 has morphed from a sprint to a long game as companies continue their development to handle a pandemic that is becoming endemic to the planet. That’s the case with Adagio Therapeutics Inc. as it chases clinical studies and an emergency use authorization (EUA) for its monoclonal antibody, ADG-20, to treat and prevent COVID-19.
Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc. priced its IPO at a level that, with anticipated gross proceeds of $436.4 million, would make it 2021’s second largest biopharma IPO and the eighth largest ever. Salt Lake City-based Recursion’s shares (NASDAQ:RXRX) were priced at $18 each when the market opened and closed April 16’s trading 73.89% higher at $31.30 each.
“There is a big need for a drug in outpatients. If you could treat them and keep them out of hospitals, that would be important and play a big role in getting us through this pandemic,” Romark Laboratories LC’s CEO, Marc Ayers, told BioWorld.
Senti Biosciences Inc. stands to receive more than $645 million in up-front, opt-in and milestone payments through a new collaboration and option agreement with Spark Therapeutics Inc.
