Business

NK:IO has been awarded £1.6m ($2.1m) in grant funding from Innovate UK’s New Cancer Therapeutics programme. The funding will support preclinical development, including development of a manufacturing process in collaboration with the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, whose mission is to support the UK’s cell and gene therapy industry. NK:IO is based on discoveries in […]

Shares in AstraZeneca fell by 6% on July 3 when the company published the first results from its Phase III trial for datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd) and continued to fall throughout the day, though there was some recovery on July 4. It was reported that the therapy demonstrated statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival vs docetaxel […]

Vesalius Biocapital, a life sciences venture capital investor, has closed its fourth fund, Vesalius Biocapital IV, securing over €95 million of commitments. The company plans to invest in first and best-in-class European life science companies in drug development and digital health. The goal is to build a portfolio of 10-15 companies, providing capital and the […]

Astraveus, providers of modular, microfluidic cell foundries for cell and gene therapy (CGT) manufacturing, has completed an oversubscribed €16.5 million Series Seed financing led by AdBio partners, co-syndicated with M Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC Inc., and Bpifrance Large Venture.  Astraveus’ Lakhesys platform is an end-to-end cell foundry that uses deep process optimisation […]

Italian contract research organisation IRBM has signed a new agreement with Merck & Co Inc (MSD outside the USA and Canada) to continue their collaboration in the peptide therapeutics area. “The success of this collaboration is reflected by the outstanding achievements in the delivery of orally available peptide candidates,” said Elisabetta Bianchi, Senior Director of […]

Evox Therapeutics has purchased Codiak Biosciences engEx-AAV technology platform, including all intellectual property rights, and exclusive access to certain engineering and manufacturing rights. The technology enables active loading of adeno-associated virus (AAV) into exosomes followed by their release when the AAV-loaded exosomes are delivered into recipient cells. This has been demonstrated to be an effective […]

invoX Pharma, a UK-based wholly-owned subsidiary of Sino Biopharmaceutical, with an advancing pipeline of innovative products, has completed a second tranche of investment in pHion Therapeutics, a next-generation mRNA vaccine company.   pHion is developing a pipeline of therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines focussed on oncology and infectious diseases. The company’s proprietary RALA platform can deliver anionic […]

Lifebit and Flatiron Health have announced a multi-year strategic partnership with the aim of improving scientific discoveries by learning from the experience of  cancer patients. Health data generated by hospitals, healthcare providers, research organisations and clinical trials hold the potential to advance research and innovation, improve patient care and accelerate drug development. The sensitivity of […]

Sales of branded anti-obesity drugs (AOB) could hit $44 billion in 2030 vs $2.5 billion in 2022, with just under 70% stemming from the US. The predictions come from analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence (BI), who believe securing broad reimbursement and supply are key, with a possible upside from further innovations including combination products. Michael Shah, […]

eMolecules has announced the acquisition of Specs Compound Handling, a provider of chemical compound management services to the life sciences industry. eMolecules provides a digital chemical search engine, specialising in unique structures with delivery options from a global network of suppliers. “Welcoming the highly reputable and talented Specs team into eMolecules represents a major milestone […]

Danish start-up InProTher has raised €6 million seed funding from private investors, with participation from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund. The financing will enable InProTher to advance its lead drug candidate, IPT001, a first-in-class immunotherapy against solid tumours, into clinical development. Incubated at the BioInnovation Institute (BII) and seeded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, […]

Pyxis Oncology has announced a definitive agreement by which it will acquire Apexigen in an all-stock transaction for an implied value of $0.64 per Apexigen share. For each share of Apexigen, Pyxis Oncology will issue 0.1725 shares of its common stock, par value $0.001 per share, for a total enterprise value of approximately $16 million. […]

Several new products for the life sciences sector have been launched over the last month, from miniature semiconductor chip (MSC) technology to a new inhalation testing service. DDW provides an update. GenScript Biotech Corporation: GenTitan Gene Fragments Synthesis service Powered by GenScript’s miniature semiconductor chip (MSC) technology, GenTitan gives scientists access to high-throughput, synthetic DNA, […]

PharmEnable has closed a pre-series A investment round of $7.5 million to develop the next generation of small molecule drugs against disease areas of high clinical need. The funding round was led by MP Healthcare Venture Management (MPH), the venture arm of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Group. There was also participation from existing investors including Cambridge […]

Contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) uBriGene is expanding into the US market with the acquisition of a manufacturing facility from Mustang Bio. The cell & gene therapy (CGT) CDMO has an established global footprint with two GMP manufacturing facilities in China and its headquarters in Vancouver, Canada. The newly acquired manufacturing site in Worcester, […]

Cell therapy, RNA technology, antibody drug conjugates and AI/machine learning are among the key areas of investment for pharma, according to a new report. Clarivate’s ‘Biopharma Dealmaking in 2023’ report examines how pharma companies are replenishing their pipelines as many face a steep patent cliff. The report combines data and insights from BioWorld, Cortellis Deals […]