Scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have demonstrated that by suppressing the proliferation of KRAS-mutant cells, they were able to set up an immunosurveillance program that allowed natural killer cells to target KRAS-driven tumors. Read More
FDA approval for Stemline Therapeutics Inc.'s Elzonris (tagraxofusp) has made it the first drug ever approved for blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), a rare and aggressive disease of the bone marrow and blood. The green light, which covers both adult and pediatric patients ages 2 and older, arrived two months ahead of the date by which the regulator was expected to release its decision. Read More
Rakuten Aspyrian Inc., of San Francisco, said it has raised an additional $134 million in a second tranche of its series C financing, bringing the total amount raised to $284 million. New investors include the SBI Group, Japan and Rakuten Inc. Read More
The CMT Research Foundation (CMTRF), of Atlanta, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused solely on delivering treatments and cures for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, said it has entered a collaborative research partnership with Acurastem Inc., of Monrovia, Calif., to test thousands of compounds aimed at producing effective treatments for CMT2A. Read More
HONG KONG – I-Mab Biopharma (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. out-licensed China rights to its long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) Fc protein, known as TG-103, to treat diabetes to CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. for ¥150 million (US$21.7 million). Read More
The quote "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," from the opening of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is certainly appropriate for the ups and downs that the biopharma sector has experienced during 2018, particularly in the public domain where significant equity gains in the first half of the year were erased in the wake of extremely turbulent general markets that saw investors head for the sidelines. Read More
HONG KONG – Astellas Pharma Inc. proceeded with an exclusive option to acquire Potenza Therapeutics Inc. under a warrant purchase agreement. Tokyo-based Astellas paid Potenza an upfront fee of $164.6 million to acquire the Cambridge, Mass.-based biopharma. Read More
PERTH, Australia – More money will be deployed in Australia's life sciences sector in the next four or five years than there has ever been, according to Australia's biggest life sciences investor. Read More
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. is set to go to market with Ultomiris (ALXN-1210, ravulizumab), the long-acting C5 complement inhibitor approved by the FDA Friday nearly two months ahead of its Feb. 18, 2019, PDUFA date to treat adults with the ultra-rare blood disorder paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Read More
