Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. cut the biggest deal of the company’s life with its new collaboration with Eli Lilly and Co. that could be worth $960 million. The two will co-develop and commercialize Rigel’s R-552, a receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) inhibitor, for all indications including autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Read More
Just months after a modest IPO, shares of Immunome Inc. (NASDAQ:IMNM) climbed 75.6% on Feb. 18, closing at $39.01. Driving the momentum was an announcement that pseudovirus testing indicates that its antibody cocktail, IMM-BCP-001, appears capable of neutralizing several SARS-CoV-2 variants, an emerging challenge to currently available vaccines and pandemic management efforts. Read More
LONDON – Exosome specialist Evox Therapeutics Ltd. has raised $95.4 million in a series C round that will enable it to progress a number of rare disease programs into the clinic, with the lead due to enter phase I at the beginning of next year. Read More
LONDON – Advent Life Sciences announced the close of two new transatlantic funds with a total of $215 million, to be dedicated to seed and series A funding of early stage science. The first fund is Advent’s own Life Sciences fund III, while the second is the Advent-Harrington Impact fund, which London-based Advent has raised, and will manage, on behalf of the Harrington Discovery Institute of Cleveland. Read More
Athenex Inc.’s launch of Klisyri (tirbanibulin) likely whetted investor appetite for another prospect coming down the pike: Oraxol, an oral form of paclitaxel for which the Buffalo, N.Y.-based firm has been assigned a PDUFA date of Feb. 28. Read More
The U.S. NIH’s Feb. 17 announcement that it’s funding a study of the effects of remdesivir in treating COVID-19 in pregnant women is welcome news, but it begs the question of why it took so long given the risk of more severe disease in that population. Read More
Organoids grown from cholangiocytes – the epithelial cells of the bile duct – are poised to be used in ex vivo cell therapy to increase the number of donated livers that are suitable for transplant, and also for direct bile duct repairs. Read More
HONG KONG – Ferring Pharmaceuticals’ microbiome-focused subsidiary Rebiotix Inc. and Mybiotics Pharma Ltd. have agreed to a multiyear strategic collaboration to develop live microbiota-based biotherapeutics to address bacterial vaginosis (BV). The companies did not disclose the financials of the deal. Read More
BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Metabolic changes are antibiotic resistance mechanism; Tumor neoantigens can inhibit immune response; Chromosome organization machinery linked to DNA repair. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Biontech, Dermavant, Devonian, Flexion, Helix, Helsinn, Immunic, Kyowa, Nordic Nanovector, Ocuphire, Pfizer, Ultimovacs, Vtv. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Astellas, Avacta, CNS, Seagen, WPD. Read More
