Aquestive Therapeutics Inc., a Warren, N.J.-based company formerly known as Monosol Rx LLC, said a new settlement agreement reached with Par Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., will allow Par and Intelgenx Technologies Corp., of Montreal, to launch their proposed generic version of Suboxone (buprenorphine and naloxone sublingual film) no earlier than Jan. 1, 2023. Read More
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Lexington, Mass., set terms for its proposed IPO, aiming to offer 7 million shares at a range of $17 to $19 per share, which would bring in $126 million at the midpoint price. Read More
LONDON – Newco Utility Therapeutics Ltd. has been formed to take on U.S. licensing and commercialization of two penicillin antibiotics that have been on the market in Europe and elsewhere for more than 40 years. Read More
HONG KONG – China's Asymchem Laboratories (Tianjin) Co. Ltd. joined hands with a top private equity firm and two government-backed parties to spearhead drug innovation in the northeastern city of Tianjin to bring novel drugs from overseas into the Chinese market. Read More
LONDON – Fourteen years on from its foundation, epigenetics pioneer Cellcentric Ltd. is about to reach the clinic after raising $26 million to fund a phase I/II trial of its lead program, CCS-1477. Read More
SHANGHAI – Chinese antibody discovery biotech Mabspace Biosciences Co. Ltd., of Suzhou, has raised $40 million in series B financing to further pursue its immuno-oncology (I-O) ambitions. Founded in 2013, the startup has proved itself to be relatively careful with money. Its last round of financing was three years ago, when Mabspace raised $15 million from Lilly Asia Ventures, (an independent venture fund, once a part of Eli Lilly and Co.). Read More
The DNA base editing technology developed in the lab of David Liu, professor of chemistry and chemical biology, emerged as a core technology platform at Beam Therapeutics, which officially launched with up to $87 million in a cumulative series A financing. The multi-stage round will help Beam "go broad" across multiple years of drug discovery, according to CEO John Evans, to develop precision genetic medicines by making edits to individual base pairs in the genetic code. The funding also will support a cryptically described "affiliated entity." Read More
Armed with a patented version of a drug first approved in 1973 for a much different use, Soleno Therapeutics Inc. has initiated a phase III trial aimed at addressing one of the chief symptoms of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS): insatiable hunger, or hyperphagia. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company, formed last year after Capnia Inc. acquired Essentialis Inc., has already scored both U.S. and EU orphan status for the drug, a controlled-release formulation of diazoxide choline. Now, with its trial kicking off at Seattle Children's Hospital, it's getting closer to potentially addressing a large portion of the 300,000 to 400,000 individuals worldwide with the rare genetic condition. Read More
While President Donald Trump's blueprint to tackle high drug prices played to skepticism from critics and an industry sigh of relief that was expressed on Wall Street Friday, agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are already putting parts of the plan in motion. Read More
Countering the naysayers who said President Donald Trump was going easy on the biopharma industry, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar started the week off by putting drug companies on notice that the administration will no longer stomach business as usual when it comes to drug prices. Read More
