Wall Street’s enthusiasm ran high for Cambridge, Mass.-based Black Diamond Therapeutics Inc. (BDT), shares of which (NASDAQ:BDTX) closed 108% higher at $39.48, after the company priced its upsized IPO of about 10.5 million shares at $19 each, for gross proceeds of about $201 million. As recently as December, the company pulled down $85 million in a series C financing. BDT’s lead product candidates target oncogenic driver mutations of the ErbB kinases in EGFR and HER2. At the time, the firm noted that it had raised $194 million thus far. With the IPO, which first set sights on 8.9 million shares in the range of $16 to $18 each, the picture grows even brighter. Read More
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a "public health emergency of international concern" over the global outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), reversing a week-ago decision by its International Health Regulations Emergency Committee. The move comes "not because of what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries," said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noting his confidence in China’s capacity to control the outbreak. "Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems, and which are ill-prepared to deal with it," he said. Read More
Eli Lilly and Co. and Incyte Corp. are working on atopic dermatitis (AD) from several angles and finding success. The most recent example is the positive top-line results from their collaborative phase III trial of baricitinib in treating adults with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis that show the oral selective JAK inhibitor met the study’s primary and secondary endpoints. Read More
DUBLIN – Bergenbio ASA raised NOK219.9 million (US$23.9 million) in a private placement priced at NOK18 per share. The fresh injection of cash will enable the Bergen, Norway-based firm to expand its broad development program for lead drug candidate bemcentinib (BGB-324), a first-in-class Axl inhibitor, which is currently in phase II development in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), triple-negative breast cancer and melanoma. Read More
IDbyDNA Inc., a San Francisco-based metagenomics technology company, scooped up $20 million in series B financing in a round led by Artis Ventures. Genesys Capital and others participated in the round. The company plans to use the money to accelerate uptake of its Explify software platform. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Aptevo, Autolus, Bayer, Eli Lilly, Exscientia, Incyte, Isofol, Kedrion, Miragen, Orion, Rubius, Sanofi, SQZ, Sumitomo Dainippon. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Advaccine, Allergan, Aptinyx, BGI, Biocorrx, Cortexyme, Curetis, Dare, Evotec, Histogen, Inovio, Iteos, Theraly, Tonix. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Albireo, Aprea, Astellas, F-star, Follicum, Merakris, Proqr, Pulmatrix, Vistagen. Read More
