DUBLIN – Roche Holding AG has joined Jnana Therapeutics Inc. in its quest to drug the human repertoire of solute carrier (SLC) metabolite transporters as a means of tackling a swath of immune-mediated and neurological diseases. The Basel, Switzerland-based pharma is paying Boston-based Jnana $40 million up front and could pay over $1 billion more in research funding, preclinical, development and commercial milestones, as well as sales royalties, in a multitarget deal. Read More
Testing Nuplazid (pimavanserin) against major depressive disorder (MDD), Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. became the latest to fail in the indication as the company unveiled top-line results from the 298-patient phase III effort called Clarity. Read More
Fulcrum Therapeutics Inc. and Myokardia Inc. agreed to discover, develop and commercialize therapies for treating genetic cardiomyopathies, a deal spun out of two companies with a mutual appreciation of each other’s abilities as well as personal relations and networking, Fulcrum’s CEO told BioWorld. Read More
A safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine may be available by the end of the year or early next year, as will the supplies needed to deliver and administer hundreds of millions of doses. That’s the message five biopharma executives delivered to a House subcommittee July 21 as they updated U.S. lawmakers on the progress their companies are making on the vaccine front. Read More
With an increasing number of neurological manifestations being reported in patients suffering from COVID-19 infection, the need for therapies to treat those conditions as well as other major CNS disorders has, once again, been highlighted. That may be one of the reasons why investors have turned their attention to the space once again, with several members of the BioWorld Neurological Diseases index enjoying an uptick in their share valuations. Read More
Interludes of classical music. Little kids talking in the background. Unmuted mics as panelists multitask. Gurgles of “underwater” sound. Periods of silence as speakers forget to unmute. And then the technical problems – lots of them. Such are the challenges of addressing a virtual FDA advisory committee in the time of COVID-19. Read More
DUBLIN – Tubulis GmbH raised €10.7 million (US$12.3 million) in a series A round to progress a next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) platform, which, it claims, will improve both the stability of ADC constructs and the efficiency with which they are generated. Read More
Strata Oncology Inc. has inked an agreement with newcomer Elevation Oncology to ramp up patient identification and enrollment for the latter’s phase II CRESTONE study evaluating the use of seribantumab in patients with recurrent, locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors of any origin that have a neuregulin-1 (NRG1) gene fusion. Read More
HONG KONG – Takeda Pharmaceuticals Inc. is gaining access to the “library of libraries,” inking an agreement with Twist Bioscience Corp. in one of the Osaka, Japan-based firm’s recent efforts to build a sustained innovative R&D growth engine. Read More
New hires and promotions in the biopharma industry, including: Aditx, Adverum, Axim, Gain, Gamida Cell, Homology, Krystal, Lixte, Notch, Proqr, Viralclear, Windtree. Read More
Biopharmas raising money in public or private financings, including: Basilea Pharmaceutica, Biontech, Cerevance, Forge, Gain, Histogen, Immuron, Inmune, Kiniksa, Molecular Templates, Relay, Selva. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Acadia, Arcturus, Chemomab, Genor, Grunenthal, Janone, Mesoblast, Pieris, Seelos. Read More