Engine Biosciences Pte. Ltd., a Singapore and Silicon Valley-based company using machine learning, combinatorial genetics and other technologies to hasten the discovery of gene interactions and biological networks underlying disease, has raised $43 million in series A financing. Polaris Partners led the round, which the company said would help it expand its portfolio of precision oncology therapeutics, prepare for its first clinical programs, and scale its technology platform.
Interim findings that Sanofi SA's venglustat is unlikely to provide a meaningful benefit to people with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) have caused the company to halt a phase II/III study of the candidate. Testing continues in other rare diseases, but the exit could be a boon for Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.'s Jynarque (tolvaptan), its generic competitors and ascendant novel ADPKD programs still underway.
Little more than two months after inking a $2 billion-plus commercialization deal with Swiss oncology specialist Helsinn Group around the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor infigratinib, Bridgebio Pharma Inc.'s subsidiary, QED Therapeutics Inc., has won accelerated FDA approval for the therapy, to be marketed as Truseltiq. Approval for the oral medicine covers the treatment of patients with previously treated locally advanced chemotherapy-resistant bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) harboring an FGFR2 fusion or rearrangement as detected by an FDA-approved test.
The second oral CGRP antagonist to win FDA approval for acute migraine care is now the first to add preventive treatment to its label, marking a valuable win for Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd. and its oral dissolving tablet, Nurtec (rimegepant). The U.S. approval, for preventive treatment of episodic migraine, officially blesses a use for the medicine already adopted by many doctors, Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond wrote, while opening up a potentially rich new stream of revenue for Biohaven.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co. said the FDA has approved Zeposia (ozanimod) as the first and only oral sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). The medicine, first FDA-approved in March 2020 for certain adults with multiple sclerosis, can now be used to treat patients with moderately to severely active UC.
Engine Biosciences Pte. Ltd., a Singapore and Silicon Valley-based company using machine learning, combinatorial genetics and other technologies to hasten the discovery of gene interactions and biological networks underlying disease, has raised $43 million in series A financing. Polaris Partners led the round, which the company said would help it expand its portfolio of precision oncology therapeutics, prepare for its first clinical programs, and scale its technology platform.
New three-year safety and efficacy data on Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.'s dengue vaccine candidate, TAK-003, showed it to be 62% more effective than placebo in preventing virologically confirmed infections with the virus and 83.6% more effective than placebo in preventing hospitalizations caused by the mosquito-borne viral disease and due to any of the four dengue virus serotypes in patients ages 4 to 16.
San Diego-based Biotheryx Inc. has raised $92 million in series E financing led by Farallon Capital Management to advance multiple molecular glues, proteolysis-targeting chimeras and monovalent degraders toward the clinic. Its first molecular glue program, BTX-1188, is expected to enter the clinic by the end of this year.
New three-year safety and efficacy data on Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.'s dengue vaccine candidate, TAK-003, showed it to be 62% more effective than placebo in preventing virologically confirmed infections with the virus and 83.6% more effective than placebo in preventing hospitalizations caused by the mosquito-borne viral disease and due to any of the four dengue virus serotypes in patients ages 4 to 16.
Shares of Annovis Bio Inc. (NYSE:ANVS) leapt 127.3% to $60 May 21 on news that, following 25 days of treatment with its lead candidate, ANVS-401 (posiphen), 14 early Alzheimer's disease patients enrolled in its ongoing phase IIa study showed cognitive improvement of 22% vs. those who received placebo. Pending successful completion of the study, the company is targeting advancement to late-stage studies later this year.
