Just a month after laying off 147 employees and announcing plans to mull “strategic alternatives,” Vor Biopharma Inc. reported raising $175 million in private placement in public equity financing and inking a new $4.23 billion license deal for Yantai Rongchang Biotechnologies (Remegen) Co. Ltd.’s telitacicept, a dual-target fusion protein drug approved in China for three autoimmune indications. The news was disclosed after U.S. market hours June 25. Vor’s shares (NASDAQ:VOR) gained 34 cents, or 60.5%, to close June 26 at 89 cents. The company’s shares had risen for eight consecutive trading days since June 17. Read More
Despite the controversies swirling around the June meeting of the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), the reconstituted committee delivered good news to Merck & Co. Inc. when it voted 5-2 June 26 to recommend that infants younger than 8 months who are not protected by maternal vaccination get one dose of a monoclonal as they head into their first respiratory syncytial virus season. Read More
Top-line results from Altimmune Inc.’s phase IIb Impact study of pemvidutide in treating metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis showed the peptide-based GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist hit one primary endpoint while not hitting statistical significance in another. Read More
Edgewise Therapeutics Inc. CEO Kevin Koch speculated that “perhaps a different environment at the FDA” from four months ago led to reviewers’ caution on sevasemten, his firm’s fast skeletal myelin inhibitor for Becker muscular dystrophy and Duchenne muscular dystrophies. Read More
Innovent Biologics Inc. announced a HKD$4.3 billion (US$547 million) placement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to advance its R&D projects and to fund its global expansion. Read More
Abvance Therapeutics Inc. secured an undisclosed amount of capital in a seed round led by Zubi Capital to support development of an insulin and glucagon combination product that the company has been in the process of developing for approximately 18 months. Read More
New hires and promotions in the biopharma industry, including: Abvance, Arbor, Arbutus, Ascidian, Aytu, Ernexa, Essential, Indivior, Q32, Vistagen. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Alvotech, Aprea, Assembly, Biogen, Blue Earth, Calcimedica, Hemab, Hoth, Innovent, Ionis, Kashiv, Phio, Qbiotics, Soleno. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Arbutus, Bio-Thera, Evaxion, Hoth, Formycon, Klinge, Novartis, Qilu, Regulus, Silo, Steincares. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Amicus, Beone, Engene, Grace, JCR, Medipal, Precision, PTC, Sanofi, Syndax. Read More
