Psithera spun out of Roivant with $47.5M and immune, inflammatory focus
December 2025 was a big month for announcements from Psithera Inc. The Watertown, Mass.-based newco announced its name change from Psivant Therapeutics, having come out from under the Roivant Sciences Ltd. umbrella – thus the dropping of the “-vant” name. The company also announced a $47.5 million series A financing and disclosed that Eric Shaff had started as the company’s new president and CEO.

Psithera spun out of Roivant with $47.5M and immune, inflammatory focus
December 2025 was a big month for announcements from Psithera Inc. The Watertown, Mass.-based newco announced its name change from Psivant Therapeutics, having come out from under the Roivant Sciences Ltd. umbrella – thus the dropping of the “-vant” name. The company also announced a $47.5 million series A financing and disclosed that Eric Shaff had started as the company’s new president and CEO.
Best of BioWorld Science: Q4
A selection of top research news from October through December 2025.
Insilico Medicine and Servier collaborate in cancer
Insilico Medicine Cayman Topco has announced a multiyear research and development collaboration with Laboratoires Servier SAS focused on identifying and developing novel therapeutics for challenging targets in oncology by leveraging Insilico’s proprietary AI platform, Pharma.AI.
Fibrobiologics files IND for CYPS-317 to treat psoriasis
Fibrobiologics Inc. has filed an IND application with the FDA seeking to begin first-in-human trials of CYPS-317, an investigational allogeneic fibroblast spheroid-based therapy for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis.
Holiday notice
In accordance with the publishing schedule, BioWorld Science was not published on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, or Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. Additionally, there will not be an issue published on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.
BioWorld Science 2025 Year in Review
BioWorld Science looks back at the year’s biggest stories in research. Find all of our 2025 Year in Review articles here.
Innolake Biopharm patents new antibody-drug conjugates
Innolake Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd. has disclosed antibody-drug conjugates comprising bispecific antibodies covalently bound to exatecan through a linker reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
SERPINB1 as potential biomarker for spinocerebellar ataxia type 2
Researchers from Goethe-Universität and collaborators investigated novel molecular biomarker candidates for spinocerebellar ataxia type 2, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG repeat expansion mutation in the coding region of the ATXN2 gene, which encodes ataxin-2.

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Conferences

Oncotartis’ OT-82 enhances venetoclax efficacy in AML
American Society of Hematology
Venetoclax has shown good results for adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in combination with azacitidine, but there is increasing evidence of inherent and acquired resistance. High expression of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) has been associated with cancer aggressiveness and poor...
ADCs’ breakout 2025 and their still-unfinished potential
AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics
Over the course of the year, and continuing into the latest scientific meetings, an extraordinary breadth of new antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) designs was reported, with innovations spanning targets, linkers, payloads, conjugation chemistries and overall architectures. Once defined by a simple “one...
Development and characterization of anti-CD19 in vivo CAR T therapy
CAR T
Shenzhen Grit Biotechnology Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Vitalgen Biopharma Co. Ltd. recently presented their work to develop and evaluate a novel anti-CD19 in vivo CAR T candidate, named GT-801.
Preclinical results of anti-ADAMTS13 antibody in acquired von Willebrand syndrome
American Society of Hematology
The acquired von Willebrand syndrome (AVWS) is a rare bleeding disorder with laboratory findings similar to those of inherited von Willebrand disease. Researchers from the Nara Medical University and collaborating institutions presented a potential therapeutic approach for AVWS.

Cancer

Bayosthiti AI to build India-specific RNA sequencing ecosystem
Newco news
Bayosthiti AI Pvt Ltd. aims to make RNA sequencing and AI-based preventive health care affordable and accessible for the Indian market, leveraging intellectual property from its parent company, Biostate AI Inc.

Infection

New DHODH inhibitors for malaria disclosed in patent
Patents
Medicines for Malaria Venture and The University of Texas System have divulged dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) (Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of malaria.

Vaccine policy and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year
Immune
Driven by a deeply antiscientific political agenda, the current U.S. government is not just sabotaging some of the most groundbreaking technology that has been developed in the past decades. It is also destroying the country’s past successes, such as measles elimination and the reduction of...
Vaccines: From the toast of the town to being in the crosshairs
RNA
BioWorld’s 2022 end-of-year highlights included a toast to the future – of universal vaccines. Even before SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were developed in record time and saved countless lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines were a rare bright spot in the fight against infectious diseases. Bacteria...

Neurology/psychiatric

SPAST-AAV9 gene therapy prevents hereditary spastic paraplegia symptoms
Gene therapy
In a recent publication in Molecular Therapy, researchers from Drexel University College of Medicine and UMass Chan Medical School presented a silence-and-replace gene therapy strategy aiming to address both the gain-of-toxicity and loss-of-function components of the disease hereditary spastic...
Gene therapy restores SynGAP1 function, rescues epilepsy and behaviors
Gene therapy
SYNGAP1-related disorders (SRDs) are rare neurodevelopmental conditions characterized by a wide range of symptoms, including intellectual disability, epilepsy, motor deficits and increased risk-taking behavior.
Apoptotic body-like liposomes restore immune tolerance in MS
Immune
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic immune-mediated disease characterized by the destruction of myelin sheaths, neuroaxonal damage, glial cell activation and formation of demyelinated plaques in the CNS. Since MS is considered a prototypic antigen-specific autoimmune disease, restoring immune...
Neushen Therapeutics patents new OGA inhibitors
Patents
Neushen Therapeutics Inc. has disclosed N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (O-GlcNAcase; OGA) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
2025 marks a breakthrough year for in vivo gene therapies
Drug design, drug delivery and technologies
Gene editing technologies are moving forward in preclinical development with innovative strategies designed to treat diseases at their root and even reverse them. However, many approaches still struggle to reach target cells or tissues – either they fail to arrive, or their efficacy is low. In vivo...

Endocrine/metabolic

CSPC cleared to advance SYH-2072 into clinic in China
Regulatory
CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. has obtained approval from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in China to conduct clinical trials of SYH-2072 (tablets), a highly selective and potent aldosterone synthase inhibitor. It is being investigated as a potential treatment for uncontrolled...

Biomarkers

LINC01116 has prognostic value in lung cancer, study shows
Cancer
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as potential markers of disease, since they associate with proteins that regulate gene expression, translation or stability, among others, and where hypoxia might play a role in this scenario. In recently published work, researchers analyzed clinical data...

Mesothelin is biomarker, potential target in arthritic bone damage
Musculoskeletal
In a recent study published in Cell Reports Medicine, researchers from the Institute of Chinese Materia Medica of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and Xi’an Jiao Tong University Health Science Center found that Mesothelin (MSLN) was significantly elevated in rheumatoid arthritis (RA)...
UK Biobank delivers largest metabolomics dataset of 500K profiles
Science
It’s the biological resource that keeps on giving, and now UK Biobank has released the final tranche of data on the levels of 249 metabolites in the blood of its half a million participants.

Gastrointestinal

JAG1-boosting ASOs ameliorate liver pathology in Alagille syndrome
Genetic/congenital
Alagille syndrome (ALGS) is a rare, multisystem genetic disorder most commonly caused by haploinsufficiency of the JAG1 gene, leading to reduced JAG1 protein function and impaired development of intrahepatic bile ducts. Researchers from Arnatar...
Haisco Pharmaceutical discovers new TNF-α/TNFR1 interaction inhibitors
Patents
Haisco Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. has described compounds acting as TNF-α/tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 1A (TNFR1) interaction inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative...
Enveda’s ENV-6946 enters clinic for inflammatory bowel disease
Regulatory
Enveda has obtained IND clearance from the FDA and initiated a phase I trial of ENV-6946, a first-in-class oral small molecule for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Bispecific siRNA knocks down YAP1, WWTR1 with single guide strand
RNAi
Yes-associated protein (YAP), encoded by Yes1-associated transcriptional regulator (YAP1) and transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ), encoded by WW domain containing transcription regulator 1 (WWTR1), are two crucial paralog...
Aerolysin-producing Aeromonas is behind ulcerative colitis
Infection
Researchers from the Medical School of Nanjing University hypothesized that in ulcerative colitis, the gut-resident macrophages may be compromised, leading to impaired integrity of the epithelial barrier. “From a basic science standpoint, our work...
Tangram seeks clinical trial clearance for TGM-312 for MASH
Regulatory
Tangram Therapeutics plc has submitted a clinical trial application (CTA) to the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to initiate a phase I/II trial of TGM-312 for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).

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