Pfizer Inc. scored a $5.29 billion deal with the U.S. government to provide 10 million courses of the company’s oral antiviral candidate Paxlovid (PF-07321332; ritonavir) for COVID-19, as Astrazeneca plc and Novavax Inc. also generated news in the space. Paxlovid, if approved or authorized, would be the first oral antiviral of its kind: a 3CL protease inhibitor specifically designed to combat SARS-CoV-2. New York-based Pfizer is seeking emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA. Rolling submissions have also commenced in several other countries, and the company continues to build its case for regulatory agencies around the world. Read More
Novo Nordisk A/S has taken the plunge and bought its RNA interference (RNAi) technology development partner Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc. for around $3.3 billion. Bagsværd, Denmark-based Novo Nordisk has been working with Dicerna, of Lexington, Mass., since 2019 on therapies that selectively silence genes that cause or contribute to disease. RNAi is triggered by double stranded RNA, which causes degradation of a specific RNA target that codes for a rogue disease-causing protein.
Generate Biomedicines Inc., a company building a machine learning platform to discover new protein therapies, raised $370 million in series B financing supported by its founder, Flagship Pioneering, and institutional co-investors. Its team plans to have multiple preclinical programs by year-end with several moving to the clinic in 2023. Read More
Protego Biopharma Inc. raised $51 million in a series A financing to advance the targeting of protein misfolding diseases. The fundraising is a few years on from 2017, when the idea underscoring the company’s birth was to build a platform based on small molecules that could stabilize proteins and restore their functionality. Read More
Mereo Biopharma plc is heading into phase III with a bone-building drug to treat the rare condition osteogenesis imperfecta – and CEO Denise Scots-Knight reckons the company has the financial backing to get setrusumab marketed thanks to a partnership with Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. Read More
Avilar Therapeutics Inc. emerged from stealth with a $60 million seed round and plans to apply a targeted protein degradation technology to a large swath of extracellular proteins associated with disease. Read More
A Chinese patent covering methods and compositions for the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in eukaryotes has been granted to Dublin-based Ers Genomics Ltd., making what Michael Arciero, vice president of intellectual property and commercial development at the company, called “a strong but not surprising statement by China,” which has made the biotechnology industry one of its top national priorities. Read More
Biopharmas raising money in public or private financings, including: Bakx, Bridgebio, Cardiff, Certara, Cymabay, Fountain, Ipsen, Pfizer, Treadwell. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Algo, Biosplice, Dermata, Eloxx, Eureka, Gensight, Graphite, Novome, Ose, Oryzon, Saniona. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Abeona, Aglaia, Arcus, Artizan, Biohaven, Clover, Entheotech, Enveric, Eqrx, Filament, Genomma, Gilead, Linus, Mymd, Oramed, Oravax, Owkin, Pierre Fabre, Ribonexus, Sanofi. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Abbvie, Astrazeneca, Biogen, Biohaven, Cytodyn, Eisai, Mirati, Moderna, Novavax, Owp, Pfizer, Prilenia, Santhera, Serum Institute, Zentalis. Read More
