Two California companies – Nkarta Inc. and Poseida Therapeutics Inc. – scored impressive IPOs but with decidedly different post-pricing performance, as Wall Street showed its enthusiasm for the former’s natural killer (NK) cell research by pushing shares (NASDAQ:NKTX) up 166%, to close July 10 at $47.90, an increase of $29.90. Read More
Following a brisk quarter of healthy biopharma dealmaking driven in part by New York-based Blackstone Group Inc., the global investment giant has revealed that its Life Sciences Fund V has closed with $4.6 billion of capital commitments, making it what the firm said is the largest life sciences private fund raised to date. Read More
LONDON – Europe has its fourth new fund in less than a month with the launch of Eir Ventures, which arrives on the scene with €76 million (US$85.9 million) to invest in life science startups in the Nordic countries of Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Read More
BEIJING – Known for its transgenic mouse platforms to develop antibodies, U.S., China and the Netherlands-based Harbour Biomed Therapeutics Ltd. closed a series C funding round July 9 to raise $102.8 million to advance its late-stage clinical programs and COVID-19 pipeline. Read More
CAJICA, Colombia, and BEIJING – Last week Sinovac Biotech Ltd., of Beijing, announced the approval by Anvisa, the Brazilian health care surveillance agency, to start phase III trials to test the efficacy and safety of its inactivated COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Sinovac Life Sciences, a subsidiary of the Chinese company, in the Latin American country. Read More
Armed with intellectual property generated in the lab of Edgar Engleman at Stanford University, Tranquis Therapeutics Inc. has emerged from stealth mode through a $30 million series A round. Read More
HONG KONG – Tokyo-headquartered Fujifilm Holdings Corp. will increase production of Avigan on the back of a partnership with India’s Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Inc. and Dubai-based Global Response Aid, an affiliate of logistics company Agility. Read More
HONG KONG – Tokyo-headquartered Eisai Co. Ltd. is targeting new markets for its orexin receptor antagonist, Dayvigo, to treat insomnia. The company launched the drug in Japan on July 6, alongside a new fine granule formulation for its antiepileptic drug, Fycompa. Read More
BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Base editor targets mitochondrial DNA; Everyone’s an immune cell; Brief anemia helps out nanoparticle drugs; Crosstalk between sex, stress hormones affects immunity; Astrocytes, endocannabinoids, metabolism cooperate to affect behavior; CDK-like kinase plays role in sensing pain; RNA editing restores Rett protein; Single-cell studies give insights into pulmonary fibrosis. Read More
As society continues to re-open and biopharma companies move back toward a business-as-usual approach, the number of clinical trials affected by the COVID-19 pandemic has plummeted with only 12 reporting delays or disruptions in the month of June. This compares to 171 in April and 71 in May. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Abeona, Atox, Center Laboratories, DBV, Gilead, Macrogenics, Sedana, Sosei, Tonix, Ziopharm. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: ATAI, Kures, Milliporesigma, Merck KGaA, Oragenics, Precigen. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Abbvie, Ipsen. Read More
