Bristol Myers Squibb Co. has agreed to pay up to $1.9 billion plus royalties, plus an up-front payment of undisclosed value, for Gentibio Inc.’s expertise in engineered regulatory T cells (Tregs) to treat inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The agreement follows soon after BMS’ $4.1 billion acquisition of cancer biotech Turning Point Therapeutics Inc., as well as an expansion of its oncology partnership with Bridgebio Pharma Inc. to the tune of $905 million. Read More
Prometheus Biosciences Inc.’s stock-boosting news July 26 put more investor eyes on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), where the company during its R&D Day revealed the target of PRA-052, the clinical candidate that emerged from the program known as PR-600. PRA-052 takes aim at the CD30 ligand, which acts as a co-stimulatory molecule to drive T-cell proliferation and differentiation. Read More
As it moves into phase II testing with the lead candidate from its hematologic pipeline, privately held Disc Medicine Inc. is also moving to the public markets via a reverse merger agreement with struggling biotech Gemini Therapeutics Inc. Concurrent with a $53.5 million financing from investors, the deal is expected to provide Disc with a cash runway into 2025. Read More
Neither the primary endpoint of overall response rate nor the key secondary endpoint of progression free survival achieved statistical significance in Isofol Medical AB’s phase III Agent study of arfolitixorin in combination with 5 fluorouracil, oxaliplatin and bevacizumab in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), licensee Solasia Pharma KK reported. Read More
Vector Biopharma AG has secured a $30 million series A funding commitment from founding investor Versant Ventures to take forward a new gene delivery platform developed by Andreas Plückthun, of the University of Zurich, in Switzerland. Read More
New hires and promotions in the biopharma industry, including: Albireo, Appia, Asieris, Aziyo, Enanta, Hemogenyx, HRA, Immpact, Peptilogics, Prellis, Zephyr AI. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Alphamab, Amgen, Asieris, Beigene, Frontier, Hutchmed, Inmagene, Kintor, Pfizer, Photocure, Saol, Vaccinex, Valneva, Verona, Xilio. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Captura, Centessa, Dyne, Eagle, Enalare, Hemoshear. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Cormedix, Ferring, Immunis, Novaliq, Reata, Rebiotix, Relmada. Read More