The business Martin Moore started years ago in college to make ends meet was dubbed Orion. Many years later, his new business, Meissa Vaccines Inc., was named for a star in Orion's constellation and could more than help him make ends meet. Read More
Zielbio Inc., of Charlottesville, Va., closed on a $25.1 million series A financing to further its lead candidate, ZB-131, a humanized monoclonal antibody against cell surface plectin, which is expressed on the plasma membrane of ovarian, pancreatic, lung and colorectal cancer cells. Read More
LONDON – There is an urgent need for changes to the health technology assessment (HTA) of new antibiotics, to incentivize investment and limit the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Read More
The leucine-repeat rich kinase 2 (Lrrk2) gets most of its attention in the context of Parkinson's disease (PD). Variants in Lrrk2 are a major cause of familial PD (though familial PD makes up only a small fraction of overall PD cases). Read More
DUBLIN – T3 Pharmaceuticals AG raised more than CHF12 million (US$12.1 million) in a second financing round to progress its immuno-oncology technology, which exploits a bacterial protein transport system to deliver a therapeutic payload to tumor cells. Read More
Bioxcel Therapeutics Inc., of New Haven, Conn., said it priced an underwritten public offering of 2.3 million shares of common stock at $8.25 each. The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 345,454 shares of common stock at the public offering price. Read More
Emergent Biosolutions Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., said it was awarded about $20 million to develop and manufacture an auto-injector containing diazepam (5 mg/mL) to treat nerve agent-induced seizures. Emergent's device is being designed for intramuscular buddy-administration for use in military environments and for civilian emergencies. Read More
Backed against the end of the U.S. fiscal year Monday with no spending bills across the finish line, the Senate approved a continuing resolution Thursday, on an 82-15 vote. Read More
Top-line results from Enanta Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Argon-1 phase IIa study of EDP-305 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) found one of the two doses of the drug tested met the study's primary endpoint, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) reduction at week 12, contributing further evidence for the drug's mechanism of action, farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonism. But the non-biopsy study appears to have left investors without proof for something more even more valuable: a clear case for differentiation vs. FXR first-mover Ocaliva (obeticholic acid, Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc.). Appearing to reflect the sentiment, Enanta's shares (NASDAQ:ENTA) fell 15.1% to $60.51 on Thursday. Read More
