With a 349% increase in stock price since its June debut on U.S. markets, Boston-based Karuna Therapeutics Inc. secures the title of best IPO performer so far in 2019. The stock skyrocketed in November following positive top-line phase II data of Karxt in acute psychosis in patients with schizophrenia, providing a potential read-through to larger indications such as Alzheimer’s disease and pain. Read More
In its second large deal of the calendar year, Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. acquired the rights to Xenon Pharmaceutical Inc.’s selective sodium channel inhibitor for treating epileptic encephalopathy. Xenon receives $30 million up front, $20 million in equity and up to $1.7 billion in potential development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments. Read More
LONDON – Initiating antiretroviral treatment (ART) as soon as infants who are positive for HIV-1 infection are born has significant protective effects, with fewer viral reservoir cells and improved immune system development, according to new research. Read More
IFM Therapeutics LLC, an innate immunity specialist that's quickly sparked major deals with big pharma, is stoking the generative fire at its heart with $55.5 million in new financing led by Boston-based Omega Funds. The Boston-based company will use the funds to launch as many as three new subsidiaries, starting with IFM Quattro and a new incubator, IFM Discovery. Read More
HONG KONG – Seoul, South Korea-based GI Innovation Inc. has licensed to Nanjing, Jiangsu-based Simcere Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. rights to its immunotherapy drug candidate, G1-101, a bispecific CD80/interleukin2 (IL-2) variant fusion protein. Read More
LONDON – Eight years after the first licensing deal unwound, Immupharma plc has found a new commercialization partner for its lupus treatment, Lupuzor. Read More
PERTH, Australia – On the heels of positive phase IIb data, Melbourne-based Opthea Ltd. announced a private placement of AU$50 million (US$33.87 million) from institutional investors in Australia and the U.K. to advance lead candidate OPT-302 to phase III trials in wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Read More
Stem cell biotech firm Novoheart Holdings Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia, is partnering with Astrazeneca plc, of Cambridge, U.K., to co-develop a human-specific in vitro, functional model of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Read More
BEIJING – China has updated its national reimbursement drug list (NRDL) to include innovative drugs that it has recently approved, including homegrown cancer drugs and foreign imports. Industry experts said they believe it is a move to drive biotech innovation at home. Read More
Baxter International Inc., of Deerfield, Ill., has entered an agreement to acquire Seprafilm adhesion barrier and related assets from Paris-based Sanofi SA. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations. Read More
