A precancerous condition caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) affects up to 300,000 American women who are diagnosed each year, and yet there are no treatments, just preventive vaccines introduced in 2006 – targeted to younger generations prior to the first sexual encounter. That leaves a large proportion of the female population stuck with a “wait-and-see” approach that involves continuous monitoring of their HPV infection through pap smears to detect cellular changes that could lead to cervical cancer. South San Francisco-based Antiva Biosciences Inc. is seeking to find a better response to this condition known as high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN2,3) with its lead topical therapeutic, ABI-2280, a prodrug of an acyclic nucleoside phosphonate that is currently in phase I trials.
Therapy delivery and the physicians who administer them are keys in CG Oncology Inc.’s drive to develop bladder cancer treatments. The company, which just closed an oversubscribed $120 million series E financing to continue on the development path, has its lead oncolytic immunotherapy, CG-0070, intravesically delivered via a catheter, in the clinic.
Microtransponder Inc. raked in $53 million in an oversubscribed series E round that exceeded its best previous fundraising by nearly 500% and brought the company’s total funds raised to date to $93 million. The new money will be used to commercialize the Vivistim paired VNS system, which received premarket approval in 2021 as what the FDA called the “first stroke rehabilitation option using vagus nerve stimulation.”