Saying "now is the time to be a shareholder" in the company, Ziopharm Oncology Inc. CEO Laurence Cooper outlined changes to the company's relationship with Precigen Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Intrexon Corp., that gives his Boston-based firm "full autonomy" to execute on its research efforts. Read More
Rgenix Inc. tapped existing investors Novo Holdings A/S, Sofinnova Partners, Alexandria Venture Investments LLC and the Partnership Fund for New York City's Innovate NY Fund for its $40 million series C, but the round was led by new investor Lepu Medical Technology Co. Ltd., of Beijing, a publicly traded medical device maker that is expanding its footprint in therapeutic development – immuno-oncology (I-O), in particular. Oceanpine Capital and Wuxi Apptec's Corporate Venture Fund also joined the syndicate. Read More
LONDON - A phase IIb trial of a small molecule that aims to remove amyloid deposits from the brains of Alzheimer's patients via a novel target has opened for recruitment in London. Read More
DUBLIN – Gotham Therapeutics Inc. raised $54 million in a series A round to fund the discovery and early development of small-molecule drugs targeting several protein classes that are involved in the post-transcriptional methylation of mRNA and influencing its expression. Read More
On its second-quarter earnings call, Affimed NV promised much-anticipated clinical and abstract data updates in the fourth quarter on several pipeline programs, including AFM-11, its CD19/CD3-targeting T-cell engager. Read More
HONG KONG – U.S. regulators have given the green light to 12 biosimilars and the EU has cleared a whopping 53. China, however, has lagged behind, though industry experts are predicting the first biosimilar could clear regulatory hurdles this year. Read More
SAN FRANCISCO – Despite tremendous progress in the field of immunotherapy, leading immunologist Jeff Bluestone told an audience at the University of California, San Francisco Tuesday that significant questions remain around how to best navigate the field's future. Bluestone, a professor at UCSF and head of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, said that addressing combinations, understanding immune-related adverse events and autoimmunity will be key in advancing understanding of how to employ what he called an "explosion of new drugs." Read More
Agenebio Inc., of Baltimore, said it received two grant awards to advance approaches to slowing progression of mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease from the National Institute of Aging and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The awards will help support a phase III trial of AGB-101. Read More
Trevena Inc., of Chesterbrook, Pa., may be looking for some pain relief of its own after the FDA's release of briefing documents ahead of a Thursday adcom triggered a landslide Tuesday for the company hoping to score its first win with Olinvo (oliceridine), an injectable opioid receptor mu agonist developed to treat moderate to severe acute pain. After closing at $2.98 Monday, shares of Trevena (NASDAQ:TRVN) tumbled more than 67 percent Tuesday, hitting an all-time low of 97 cents. Read More
Logicbio Therapeutics Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., set a price range for its proposed IPO of 5.8 million shares at $12 to $14, which would raise $75.4 million at the midpoint. Insiders intend to purchase up to $30 million of the IPO. The preclinical-stage gene editing firm seeks to list on Nasdaq under the ticker LOGC. Jefferies, Barclays and William Blair are acting as joint bookrunners. Read More
