Having rung the bell in phase II last summer, Ovid Therapeutics Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. signed a pact giving the latter global rights to develop and commercialize soticlestat, a first-in-class inhibitor of cholesterol 24-hydroxylase for the treatment of developmental and epileptic encephalopathies including Dravet syndrome (DS) and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS). Read More
DUBLIN – Sofinnova Partners closed out its crossover fund at €445 million (US$535 million), a total, it said, that makes it Europe’s largest crossover investor in biotech. It’s almost three years since Paris-based Sofinnova Partners completed an initial close at €275 million. “We didn’t set a bar – we thought between €250 million and €400 million would be great,” Antoine Papiernik, chairman and managing partner at Sofinnova, told BioWorld. Read More
Century Therapeutics Inc. raised $160 million in a series C round to progress its preclinical pipeline of allogeneic cell therapies for cancer, which are derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and to expand its operational, laboratory and production facilities across several locations. Read More
Berkeley, Calif.-based Caribou Biosciences Inc. has raised $115 million in an oversubscribed series C financing co-led by Farallon Capital Management, PFM Health Sciences and Ridgeback Capital Investments. Proceeds from the round will be used to advance its CRISPR technology platform and pipeline of off-the-shelf genome-edited CAR T and CAR-NK cell cancer therapies, including CB-010, its lead CAR T program, now in a phase I trial for patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Read More
A new once-daily attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) drug developed by prodrug specialist Kempharm Inc. has won FDA approval under the brand name Azstarys. The medicine combines serdexmethylphenidate, Kempharm's prodrug of the CNS stimulant dexmethylphenidate, with immediate-release d-MPH, the core medicine in the now off-patent product Focalin, a refined formulation of Ritalin. Read More
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing for the appointment of Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services ended in a tie vote, which not unexpectedly ran along party lines. The nomination of Becerra was controversial on several fronts, but the outcome nonetheless sends the nomination to the Senate floor, where Vice President Kamala Harris may cast the deciding vote in what is likely to be a literal 50-50 deadlock. Read More
According to an analysis conducted by BioWorld of the 2020 financial reports filed by public biopharmaceutical companies with market caps greater than $1 billion, and excluding big pharma companies, the amount that was invested in research and development (R&D) during the year increased by 23% compared to the same period last year. Read More
Little more than two months after cutting a deal with Merck & Co. Inc. that could top $1 billion, Janux Therapeutics Inc. has closed on a $56 million series A. Janux is developing immunotherapies designed to trigger the immune system to kill specific tumors while leaving the healthy tissue safely alone. T-cell engagers bind to a tumor cell and use the patient’s T cells to eliminate the tumor. Read More
Four years after leaving the Nasdaq, Sciclone Pharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd. returned to the market March 3, issuing 116 million shares to raise HK$2.18 billion (US$281 million) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX). Shares were priced at HK$18.8 each. Read More
LONDON – A further U.K. real-world study of COVID-19 vaccines has found a single dose dramatically reduces the chances of the most elderly and frail being admitted to the hospital as a result of serious infection. Read More
As the World Trade Organization (WTO) debate intensified this week over a demand to waive patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, the group’s new director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, urged members to “walk and chew gum” at the same time by working with “companies to open up and license more viable manufacturing sites now in emerging markets and developing countries. We must get them to work with us on know-how and technology transfer now.” Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Alvotech, Applied Biomath, Astrazeneca, Betterlife, Black Diamond, Cipla, DNA Script, Emmaus, ERS, Eurofins, Exmceuticals, F4, Global Cannabinoids, GSK, Halberd, Hoth, Immunitas, Isa, Kainos, Kamada, Kindeva, Medicinova, Morphosys, Mylan, Nanobiotix, Oasmia, Otsuka, Partner, Repertoire Immune, Resverlogix, Sirs, United, Vaxalto. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Blueprint, Dialectic, Exicure, Exithera, Idorsia, Junshi, Kempharm, Oblato, On Target, RDIF, Saniona, Sorrento, Wellmarker, Xentria. Read More
