Forty Seven Inc., a young company moving a humanized IgG4 kappa anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody (MAb) through dual phase I studies, completed the first half of a committed $75 million series A financing led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures. Clarus Ventures and GV (formerly Google Ventures) also participated in the financing. Read More
DUBLIN – French immunotherapy firms Orphan Synergy Europe (OSE) Pharma SA and Effimune SAS are pooling their resources in a stock-based transaction, with the aim of creating scale in a rapidly moving field. The deal values Nantes-based Effimune at €30.4 million (US$33.5 million), based on OSE's closing share price (PARIS:OSE) of €7.60 Wednesday. The combined company will be called OSE Immunotherapeutics SA. Read More
Impressively partnered Rani Therapeutics Inc.'s latest round of "more than $50 million" brings to greater than $70 million the amount of cash raised thus far by the firm, which "could be in the clinic in the second half of next year with a molecule that we might develop on our own," CEO Mir Imran told BioWorld Today. Read More
ATLANTA – "It takes a village" to develop biomarkers in osteoarthritis (OA), Chris Leptak, medical officer in the FDA Office of New Drugs, Guidance and Policy Team told participants at the Accelerating Osteoarthritis Clinical Trials Workshop co-sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation and the FDA. Read More
HONG KONG – South Korean biopharma companies are urging the government to speed up the implementation of supporting policies, particularly tax policies that could make it easier for young bioventures to become competitive. Read More
Polypid Ltd., of Petah Tikva, Israel, closed a $22 million private equity financing. The financing was co-led by new investor Shavit Capital and current investor Aurum Ventures. Read More
Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc, of Dublin, reported adjusted net income for 2015 of $600 million, or $9.52 per diluted share, compared to $520.5 million, or $8.31 per diluted share, for 2014. Read More
Antibe Therapeutics Inc., of Toronto, said an article published in PLOS ONE described the ability of anti-inflammatory drug ATB-346 to prevent and reverse tumorigenesis in mice that carry the same genetic mutation, called APCmin, which is found in more than 80 percent of humans with colon cancer. Read More
Biotime Inc., of Alameda, Calif., said subsidiary Asterias Biotherapeutics Inc. completed an end-of-phase II meeting with the FDA for AST-VAC1, its therapy targeting acute myeloid leukemia. Read More
