CD38 Special: Sanofi caught up in Kiadis, as much as $991M Fated
Kiadis Pharma NV’s takeover last year of Cytosen Therapeutics Inc. to get a natural killer (NK) platform paid off in a potentially huge way, with Sanofi SA paying €17.5 million (US$19.7 million) up front in a licensing deal with as much as €857.5 million more if preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial goals are reached, as well as up to double-digit royalties.

CD38 Special: Sanofi caught up in Kiadis, as much as $991M Fated
Kiadis Pharma NV’s takeover last year of Cytosen Therapeutics Inc. to get a natural killer (NK) platform paid off in a potentially huge way, with Sanofi SA paying €17.5 million (US$19.7 million) up front in a licensing deal with as much as €857.5 million more if preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial goals are reached, as well as up to double-digit royalties.
Foghorn lands $435M oncology deal with Merck
Privately held Foghorn Therapeutics Inc., of Ridge, Mass., cut a collaboration deal with Merck & Co. Inc. to discover and develop therapeutics targeting the chromatin regulatory system in oncology that could eventually bring in as much as $450 million.
Velosbio raises $137M series B for ROR1-targeting cancer therapies
Velosbio Inc., a San Diego-based company developing cancer therapies targeting receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1), has raised $137 million in series B financing to support development of its lead antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), VLS-101, and continued expansion of its pipeline.
Osivax secures $36M in grant, equity funding for flu, coronavirus vaccine programs
DUBLIN – Osivax SAS has assembled a public funding package of more than €32 million (US$36.3 million) to pursue ongoing clinical development of its universal flu vaccine and to take forward a coronavirus vaccine program based on a similar approach, involving vaccine-like particle (VLP) technology.
Today's news in brief
BioWorld briefs for July 8.
Varmx adds $36M to advance universal anticoagulant antidote
LONDON – Varmx BV is poised to demonstrate its modified recombinant factor X acts a universal antidote to reverse the effects of direct oral anticoagulants in patients suffering severe spontaneous bleeding or needing emergency surgery, after closing a €32 million (US$36.1 million) series B round.
AIDS2020: Virtual: Can state of the ART get to ‘see you next year’?
Forty years after HIV became a global pandemic, there are now more than 30 drugs approved to treat it. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ director, Anthony Fauci, and clinical director, Clifford Lane, opined in the July 2, 2020, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine that “considering the spectacular scientific advances that have been made over nearly four decades, it is conceivable that with optimal implementation of available prevention strategies and treatments, the end of HIV/AIDS as a global pandemic will be attainable.”
Partisan votes on U.S. federal agency appropriations foreshadow showdown between House, Senate
Two subcommittees of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee have moved their respective appropriations proposals for the FDA and the NIH, restarting a process that has worked smoothly over the past couple of years. Still, Republicans in both committees objected to the use of emergency funding mechanisms in lieu of more routine appropriations.

Analysis and data insight

Deal values rise with 15 above $1B in 2020’s second quarter
Deals and M&A
Despite the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, biopharma dealmaking values in the second quarter of 2020 increased by 22.4% since the first quarter, and M&A values – thanks to Abbvie Inc. completing in May its $63 billion buyout of Allergan plc – are at a four-year high. A total of 529 deals, including...
Biopharma industry on pace to smash record for financings
Financings
Amid a world that has been brought to its knees by the COVID-19 pandemic, the biopharma industry has learned how to quickly adapt under these extreme circumstances. Not only has it rapidly brought to bear huge research efforts to uncover potential therapeutics and vaccines to counter the...
Week in review for June 29-July 2, 2020: Public biopharmaceutical companies post strong gains in second quarter
Coronavirus
A quick look back at top stories.
Flurry of financings equal IPO, follow-on and VC records in June
The biopharma industry has raised nearly $62 billion in the first six months of the year, bringing it very close to the $68 billion full-year record of 2015. Well over half of that money has been raised in just the last two months, with May collecting $23.4 billion and June pulling in $16.28 billion.

Financings

Gesynta raises $21M to test novel mechanism in systemic sclerosis
Inflammatory
DUBLIN – Gesynta Pharma AB raised SEK190 million (US$20.6 million) in new funding to move GS-248, a selective inhibitor of microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1), into a phase IIa trial in systemic sclerosis. The study is due to get underway toward the year end. “It’s going to be in the second half of the fourth quarter,” said Patric Stenberg, CEO of Lund, Sweden-based Gesynta.

Science

COVID-19: Trying for herd immunity without vaccine ‘unethical’ and ‘unachievable’
Europe
A large epidemiological study published in the July 6, 2020, advance online issue of The Lancet found that most individuals who became infected with SARS-CoV-2 developed antibodies to the virus, confirming that infection usually results in at least a short-term immune response.

Immune checks and balances evident from earliest stages of infection
Cancer
The checkpoint molecule CD47 has high hopes riding on it in oncology as being the innate immune equivalent of PD-1. Multiple companies are developing blockers against CD47 and/or its ligand, SIRPa, for the treatment of various tumors.
Bench Press for July 2, 2020
BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Potassium channel distancing fights stroke; ASO approach fixes myelin; FMF is Mediterranean’s SCD; Calpain-2 in common, rare neurodegeneration; Antitoxin vaccine fights S. aureus; Noncoding mutations contribute to heart disease; Good vs. evil in...

Newco news

Diogenx launches new search for holy grail of diabetes
Diabetes
Beta cell regeneration has been a holy grail for type 1 diabetes researchers for several decades. Despite some promising results in animal models, progress in patients has remained frustratingly elusive, however.
C2i Genomics raises $12M series A to bring whole genome pattern recognition to liquid biopsy
Cancer
Whole genome sequencing is not part of treating patients in practice – or even involved in most clinical trials of drug candidates. But C2i Genomics Inc. is working to make that a reality. It applies pattern recognition to whole genome sequencing to create an individualized fingerprint for a given patient’s tumor. The New York-based startup has raised a $12 million series A round to back the development of its technology, which came out of Cornell and the New York Genome Center.
Shanghai startup Eccogene bets on small molecules for NASH
BEIJING – After his role as associate director and head of chemistry at Eli Lilly and Co., Brandeis-trained Jingye Zhou founded Eccogene Inc. in Shanghai in 2018 to focus on developing small-molecule drugs for metabolism and immune-related diseases.
China’s Inmagene CEO: Cost-efficient innovation for global medical needs
Immune
BEIJING – After being a health care investor for 21 years, Jonathan Wang decided to co-found biotech startup Inmagene Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. in July 2019 to seek success in the China market using the experience and insights he had accumulated over the years. With $20 million in its war chest so far, the startup aims to excel in immunology-related therapeutic areas in China.
Fountain fires up aging drugs platform with new $6M financing
Series A
Fountain Therapeutics Inc., a California company working to create treatments for age-related diseases, said Khosla Ventures has led a $6 million series A-1 financing of the startup, with participation from Nan Fung Life Sciences, which earlier contributed $5 million to the round.

U.S.

Taxpayer-enabled COVID-19 vaccines will cost less, but distribution system requires another at-risk investment
Vaccine
The question of prices for a COVID-19 vaccine have raged in recent days. Gary Disbrow, acting director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), told members of a Senate committee that vaccines developed with the help of taxpayer funding will come with an appropriate reduction in price. However, CDC Director Robert Redfield emphasized that the cold-chain distribution system for those products requires the same kind of at-risk investment that is used for vaccine development.

Europe

All change at the EMA as Cooke named as new director while CHMP nods through remdesivir for COVID-19
Regulatory
DUBLIN – Emer Cooke, named this week as the next executive director of the EMA, is the first woman to lead the organization since its creation in 1994. She is due to take up the post in November, but her appointment must first be ratified by the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment,...

Evelo Bio's anti-inflammatory to be tested in hospitalized COVID-19 patients
Clinical
A new U.K. trial evaluating drugs for hospitalized patients in the early stages of COVID-19 has elected to test Evelo Biosciences Inc.'s anti-inflammatory monoclonal microbial, EDP-1815, after an earlier trial found it led to favorable anti-inflammatory activity in psoriasis patients.
Epidarex targeting ‘under-ventured’ opportunities with $126M fund
Financings
LONDON – Epidarex Capital announced the closure of its £102.1 million (US$126.3 million) third fund, which will invest in very early stage biomedical and med-tech spin-outs from high-class but “under-ventured” universities in regions of the country where venture money is in short supply.

Clinical

India’s first COVID-19 vaccine to enter human trials
Asia-Pacific
Bharat Biotech International Ltd. has successfully developed India’s first indigenous vaccine candidate for COVID-19 to enter human trials. Named Covaxin, the vaccine has been cleared by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for phase I and II trials after the company submitted positive preclinical study results regarding safety and immune response.
To B or not to B: Corvus’ new approach takes arms against COVID-19
Cancer
Corvus Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s success in treating a COVID-19 patient previously diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with CPI-006 helped boost shares (NASDAQ:CRVS) to $4.96, up $2.21, or 181%, as the Burlingame, Calif.-based company disclosed the start of a phase I study to investigate the anti-CD73 immunotherapy prospect.
Regeneron halts one phase III COVID-19 trial while starting two others
Coronavirus
Missing the primary endpoint along with key secondary endpoints in a phase III trial of Kevzara (sarilumab), an interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor antibody, for treating COVID-19 patients who need mechanical ventilation caused Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sanofi SA to halt the study.
No holiday in UF walk down Primrose lane; Obseva shares melty on Yselty
Geneva-based Obseva SA’s top-line data from the pivotal phase III studies called Primrose 1 and 2 with GnRH antagonist Yselty (linzagolix) pleased the company, but Wall Street not so much.
Idorsia insomnia drug hits one of two primary endpoints in second phase III trial
DUBLIN – Idorsia Ltd. plans to file an NDA before the year-end for its insomnia drug, daridorexant, following a read-out of top-line data from a second phase III study, which the company said closely tracked an earlier phase III study, although it failed to meet one of two primary endpoints with statistical significance.
Bellus shares sink on phase II cough trial outcome
The failure of an experimental refractory chronic cough drug to yield statistically significant reductions in placebo-adjusted cough frequency sent shares of its developer, Bellus Health Inc. (NASDAQ:BLU), down 71.7% to $3.40 on July 7.

BioWorld Perspectives

When it comes to drug quality, is a ‘C’ acceptable?
BioWorld
In releasing its annual report card for drug manufacturing inspections in which the per-country/region grading curve peaked at 77% and bottomed at 68%, the...
A decade of incentives to promote antibiotic development and still no viable route to commercial success
It should be motoring to profitability, but nine months after the U.S. launch of its new antibiotic, Zemdri (plazomicin), Achaogen Inc. has filed for...
BioWorld's Top 10: Biggest newsmakers and trending stories of 2018
BioWorld
In many ways, 2018 resembled the previous year in fast motion. Political turmoil accelerated on both sides of the Atlantic, with Asia swept into the fold,...
Deck the halls, or get decked out: BioWorld’s 12th annual Holiday Gift Guide
BioWorld
The holidays are (already) here again. Much as we try to push back the calendar, those Thanksgiving doorbuster, Black Friday blowout, Small Business...
Price increases - tone deaf or defiant?
BioWorld
Defying the laws of nature, many drug companies seem intent on proving that what goes up doesn’t have to come down. For them, the sky’s the limit when it...
PABNAB – A disappointing distraction at BIO, not associated with BIO
BioWorld
On what planet are the PABNAB (Party at BIO not associated with BIO) organizers living to think it was acceptable to spotlight topless dancers with company...
Shoes, ‘Stones’ and surfing: BioWorld’s 12th annual Summer Reading List
BioWorld
Summer arrives with a bang for biopharma in the dueling agendas of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, the BIO International...

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