DUBLIN – Merck & Co. Inc. is placing two separate bets on recombinant viral vector technology in a broad effort to tackle COVID-19, in which it is also in-licensing a small-molecule antiviral drug. Kenilworth, N.J.-based Merck is acquiring Austrian vaccine developer Themis Bioscience GmbH in a move that propels the latter firm’s COVID-19 vaccine program to the front ranks of the industry pipeline. It is entering a COVID-19 vaccine development collaboration with the not-for-profit vaccine research organization IAVI. Read More
Argenx SE’s later-stage effort with antibody fragment efgartigimod in generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) was designed with guidance from the phase II trial that showed 75% of patients had a durable response of at least six weeks. Read More
The pandemic hasn't kept biotechs from going public. In fact, through the first five or so months of the year, the industry has raised more than $3.3 billion through IPOs, more capital than biotechs have raised during the first five months of any of the previous 20 years. Read More
LONDON – Exscientia Ltd. has closed a $60 million series C funding, attracting Novo Holdings as new investor to lead the round, which will enable the artificial intelligence (AI) specialist to progress its first in-house program to the clinic before the end of 2020. Read More
Variants in the APOE gene are the strongest genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Now, researchers at Rockefeller University have demonstrated that APOE variants also affected the risk of progression and metastasis as well as the response to immunotherapy, in melanoma. Read More
DUBLIN – Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc. emerged from stealth mode with $32.5 million in funding commitments from series A investors Versant Ventures and New Enterprise Associates to enable it to bring new science into the increasingly crowded field of targeted protein degradation. Read More
Privately held Viacyte Inc., of San Diego, has closed on about $27 million in private funding, the remainder of its $80 million series D stock financing from late 2018. Read More
HONG KONG – South Korean conglomerate SK Group is preparing to list its subsidiary, SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., on the Stock Market Division of the Korea Exchange. Read More
Unpredictable and unaffordable copays for insulin could be a thing of the past for millions of people enrolled in certain Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Abivax, Akeso, Algernon, Alnylam, Aurinia, Cytrx, Expression, Hansa, Kala, Neurobo, Novaremed, Orphazyme, Qurient, Rockwell, Sino, Takeda, Zealand. Read More
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting biopharma, including: Gilead, Abbvie, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck, Takeda. Read More
