Though founded in 2018, Inipharm Inc. has just closed on a $35 million series A financing designed to push its lead program through an IND filing and into the clinic to treat liver-related diseases.
Now that the FDA has granted emergency use authorization to Eli Lilly and Co.’s bamlanivimab, the company plans to manufacture up to 1 million doses of the therapy by year-end with worldwide distribution to mild to moderate COVID-19 patients ages 12 and older in early 2021.
Lenzilumab, the lead candidate from Humanigen Inc., has taken two large steps forward with positive interim phase III data and some support from the federal government. That, along with an Asia-Pacific region licensing from earlier in the week, has the relatively small company successfully “punching above our weight,” the CEO told BioWorld.
In another multibillion-dollar bid to further strengthen its oncology pipeline, Merck & Co. Inc. is set to acquire privately held Velosbio Inc. for $2.75 billion in cash. Velosbio is developing cancer therapies targeting receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1. The company’s follow-on programs include next-generation antibody-drug conjugates and bispecific immune-engagers targeting ROR1, which it has been developing for nearly two years.
Ocular Therapeutix Inc. and Affamed Therapeutics Ltd. entered a license and collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize Dextenza and OTX-TIC in greater China, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations markets.
Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. posted positive top-line results from the phase III SEAL trial of Xpovio (selinexor), including meeting the study’s primary endpoint, and likely extending its reach into the company’s bottom line.
A multimillion dollar windfall for Icosavax Inc. will help allow the company to launch a COVID-19 vaccination program using its virus-like particle candidate (VLP), IVX-411, that displays the SAR-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain.
Ocular Therapeutix Inc. and Affamed Therapeutics Ltd. entered a license and collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize Dextenza and OTX-TIC in greater China, South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations markets.
