Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.’s chief business development and strategy officer, Kyle Gano, said “there was really no playbook” for the deal in which his firm is paying Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. $120 million up front for an exclusive license to seven programs, including three clinical-stage assets targeting the notoriously difficult indications of schizophrenia and treatment-resistant depression (TRD), as well as depression-related anhedonia. Read More
Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) will collaborate in three of Ideaya Biosciences Inc.’s synthetic lethality programs, MAT2A (methionine adenosyltransferase 2a), Pol Theta (polymerase theta) and Werner Helicase, in a deal that Ideaya estimated could be worth billions. Read More
C4 Therapeutics Inc., a company focused on destroying disease-causing proteins via degradation, has closed a $170 million financing intended to help move four cancer candidates into the clinic by the end of 2022. Read More
LONDON – In the first major breakthrough in therapeutics for COVID-19 infection, dexamethasone has been shown to have a statistically significant impact on mortality in the most seriously ill patients. Read More
CAJICA, Colombia – A team of scientists in Argentina is working on obtaining monoclonal antibodies from hens and llamas in a bid to produce both a vaccine and a drug for SARS-CoV-2, but the development process is highlighting the challenges that researchers and scientists in developing countries with troubled economies can face. Read More
BEIJING – One more company is joining the global efforts in developing a vaccine for COVID-19. Beijing-based Yisheng Biopharma Co. Ltd. unveiled YS-SC2-010, which was developed through recombinant protein technology and its proprietary PIKA (polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid-based adjuvant) technology. Read More
DUBLIN – Etherna Immunotherapies NV raised €34 million (US$38.2 million) in a series B funding round to progress its pipeline of mRNA-based vaccines for cancer and infectious disease. Read More
LONDON - Ona Therapeutics SL has raised €30 million (US$33.9 million) in a series A round, providing the means to advance a new method of treating metastases by blocking the lipid metabolism of cancer cells. Read More
HONG KONG – Japan’s Seikagaku Corp. is contemplating the next move for its ONO-5704/SI-613 (diclofenac etalhyaluronate), a treatment for arthritis that it is co-developing with fellow Japanese company Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Read More
Beta cell regeneration has been a holy grail for type 1 diabetes researchers for several decades. Despite some promising results in animal models, progress in patients has remained frustratingly elusive, however. Read More
New hires and promotions in the biopharma industry, including: Adverum, Biovie, Bioxcel, Canbridge, Cure, Macrogenics, Novavax, Nurix, Zealand. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Akili, Arch, Edesa, Eli Lilly, Jazz, Valeo. Read More
