While Immunomedics Inc. resolves issues posed by a complete response letter (CRL) regarding the antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab govitecan for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, the company announced a license agreement with Everest Medicines II Ltd. to develop, register and commercialize the drug in much of Asia outside of Japan. Read More
LONDON – Alentis Therapeutics AG has announced the first CHF12.5 million (US$12.3 million) tranche of its series A and said it will close the round at CHF30 million to CHF35 million within the next few months. Read More
A new partnership between Atomwise Inc. and the prolific Silicon Valley-based seed funder Y Combinator (YC) is creating a new launch pad for academic researchers building companies around promising compounds discovered with the artificial intelligence (AI) platform Atomnet, a neural network that can help pare millions of potential molecules down to a curated subset ready for preclinical testing. Read More
Therapeutic options have remained limited for the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD) where, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about 2.6% of the U.S. population is diagnosed with the condition and nearly 83% of those cases classified as severe. Historically, there has been a lack of biopharma industry investment in neurology/psychiatric conditions. However, there are signs that the situation is changing, with exciting new research into the underlying biology of BD paving the way for the discovery of promising therapeutic targets. That has catalyzed a noticeable upswing in investment in research and development and the establishment of strategic partnerships helping expand the product pipeline. Read More
The disclosure in late March by Blueprint Medicines Corp. that, based on talks with regulators, the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm will expedite development of avapritinib, BLU-667 and BLU-782 served to whet investor appetite and fuel speculation about the competitive chances of one candidate in particular. Read More
Whether developing a new drug, device or gene therapy to treat a rare disease, sponsors are increasingly turning to patients to get their perspective on trial designs and their priorities for health care needs. Read More
Canopy Biosciences LLC, of St. Louis, which provides gene editing and gene expression products and services, said it acquired Zellkraftwerk GmbH, of Leipzig, Germany, which offers multiplex cytometry. Concurrent with the acquisition, Canopy closed a strategic investment from Ampersand Capital Partners. Details were not disclosed. Read More
Santhera Pharmaceuticals AG, of Pratteln, Switzerland, reported a 38% increase in net revenues in 2018 to CHF31.7 million (US$31.09 million) from continued growth in sales of its lead product Raxone (idebenone) for the treatment of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). Read More
Innovate Biopharmaceuticals Inc., of Raleigh, N.C., said it entered securities purchase agreements with certain institutional investors providing for the purchase and sale of about 4.3 million shares of common stock at a purchase price of $2.025 per share, in a registered direct offering priced at-the-market for aggregate gross proceeds of about $8.7 million. Read More
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said in its latest Special 301 Trade Report that China remains on the watch list for intellectual property piracy, and that Beijing is also still on the Section 306 monitoring list as well. Among the other nations that have a continued presence on the priority watch list are India and Indonesia, as well as Saudi Arabia, which is featured due to its lack of protection of patents for pharmaceutical products. Read More
