Shares in Sierra Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:SRRA) surged 38.5% to $54.75 on April 13 as Glaxosmithkline plc made a $55-per-share offer for the company, which values it at $1.9 billion. The offer represents a premium of about 39% on Sierra’s April 12 closing share price of $39.52 and a premium of about 63% over its volume-weighted average share price over the last 30 trading days. Read More
Drug delivery opportunities are at the heart of Halozyme Therapeutics Inc.’s nearly $1 billion acquisition of Antares Pharma Inc. The deal brings Halozyme an autoinjector platform to complement its Enhanze drug delivery technology, which is designed to reduce hours-long treatments to minutes. Read More
Although efforts focused on COVID-19 continue to fade and there are fewer collaborations than in previous years, the biopharma industry has recorded record value from mega-deals in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, topping all recent years, as executives continue to opt against costly mergers and acquisitions. Read More
“We’re still a far cry from reproducible, durable benefits” with CAR T cells targeting solid tumors, Crystal Mackall told the audience at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). But “we’re beginning to see some signals.” Mackall is the founding director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy. Read More
Pharma CEOs have pushed back strongly against intellectual property (IP) waivers for COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, saying that pricing is not the reason why middle- and low-income countries have not received pharmaceutical countermeasures against the pandemic. Senior execs from Pfizer Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., and Roche Holding AG, also expressed concerns about the latest funding package from the U.S. government, which at $10 billion is less than half that originally requested by the White House. Read More
Shionogi & Co. Ltd.’s plan to make ensitrelvir, an oral antiviral for COVID-19, the first domestically approved COVID-19 treatment has hit a snag. Animal studies showed the drug, also known as S-217622, disturbed fetal development, according to media reports. Read More
Beigene Ltd.’s BTK inhibitor Brukinsa (zanubrutinib) has met the primary endpoints in a phase III trial to treat patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma. Read More
CDR-Life Inc. has closed a $76 million series A round to advance development of a new generation of cancer immunotherapies designed to treat solid tumors by targeting intracellular antigens that occur only in tumors, with the aim of increasing effectiveness while reducing off-target effects. Read More
Versant Ventures is committing $50 million in series A funding to Cimeio Therapeutics Inc., which aims to bring new possibilities in terms of disease targeting and safety to bear on a wide range of cell therapy applications, including hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and adoptive cell transfer. Read More
As part of a series of guidances addressing clinical trial diversity, the U.S. FDA issued a draft guidance April 13 focused on improving enrollment of participants from underrepresented racial and ethnic populations. Read More
New hires and promotions in the biopharma industry, including: Citius, Crispr, Ikena, In8bio, Maxcyte, Nervgen, Nimbus, Pyxis, Santhera, Seismic, Vaxxas. Read More
New and updated preclinical and clinical data presented by biopharma firms at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, including: Abbvie, Aptevo, Harpoon, Jubilant, Kura, Kamera, MEI, Perus, Mina, Moleculin, Myeloid, Natera, Nimbus, Nktarta, Nouscom, Nurix, Nuvalent, Nuvectis, Omega, Obsidian, Oncolytic.
Biopharmas raising money in public or private financings, including: Affimed, Aquestive, Blue Water, Crinetics, Liquidia, Lixte, Lyra, Navidea and NLS. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Aeglea, Almirall, BMS, Prokidney, Revive, Takeda. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Aeglea, Affamed, Bharat Biotech, Biocardia, Blue Earth, Fera, Gilead, Henlius, Medilink, Myovant, Ocugen, Paradigm, Poxel, Secura, Vistagen, Xortx. Read More
