Eli Lilly and Company is acquire Adverum Biotechnologies Inc, giving it a Phase 3 gene therapy for a common eye disorder and expanding its portfolio of genetic medicines. The acquisition, priced at approximately $262 million, comes just five months after Lilly made a much bigger outlay for Verve Therapeutics Inc, a Boston, US based company, which has an in vivo gene editing product for cardiovascular disease. This acquisition was valued at $1 billion upfront.
Omnix Medical Ltd, based in Israel, has raised $25 million from a Series C funding round to accelerate development of a pipeline of antimicrobials directed against multidrug-resistant infections. Announced on 15 October, the financing was co-led by Harel Insurance & Finance Group, one of Israel’s largest financial institutions, and the European Innovation Council Fund, a venture initiative of the European Commission under the Horizon Europe research programme.
Tubulis GmbH, a German company with a portfolio of antibody-drug conjugates, has raised €308 million in a Series C financing round in what is being described as the largest C round for a European biotechnology company and the biggest financing globally for a private ADC developer. Announced on 15 October, the round was led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners with participation from additional new investors Wellington Management and Ascenta Capital.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co has stepped up its commitment to cell therapies with plans to spend $1.5 billion to acquire a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech which is developing a medicine to reprogramme the immune system and treat autoimmune diseases. Orbital’s lead product, OTX-201, is an in vivo chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy that is being developed using ribonucleic acid (RNA) technology. The preclinical product consists of a circular RNA that encodes a CAR which targets cells expressing CD19, a B cell specific antigen.
AstraZeneca Plc has become the second global pharmaceutical company to sign an agreement with the Trump Administration to lower the prices of its medicines sold in the US. In parallel it will increase its manufacturing presence in the country and upgrade its share listing. Pfizer Inc signed a similar agreement with the government on 30 September. The deals are applications of the World Trade Organization’s most-favoured nation principle (MFN) under which favourable terms of trade, like lower tariffs, extended to one country are granted to other WHO members as well.
Genmab A/S is to take over the Dutch company Merus NV for $8 billion in one of the largest European biotech transactions to date, giving it new tools for treating a host of cancers. Merus has a portfolio of bispecific and trispecific antibodies which are recombinant molecules that bind to one or more targets at the same time. The company has one marketed product, Bizengri (zenocutuzumab), which has been approved for non-small cell lung and pancreatic cancers, and a second, petosemtamab, which is in development for head and neck and colorectal cancers.
Pfizer Inc is to pay $4.9 billion to acquire a three-year old company, Metsera Inc, which is developing drugs for weight management giving it a selection of candidate products that can be delivered orally and by injection and which include both amylin and incretin mimetics. The amylin-based treatments restore sensitivity to leptin, a satiety hormone that enables people to feel naturally full after eating. The incretins, which include the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs, mimic hormones in the gut that help regulate blood sugar and appetite.
Netherlands’s- based VectorY Therapeutics BV has negotiated an option and licensing agreement with a US manufacturer of adeno-associated viral (AAV) capsids ahead of making its first regulatory filings for clinical trials of a new drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The supplier of the tool is Shape Therapeutics Inc of Seattle, Washington which is developing capsids for genetic medicines for difficult-to-reach tissues. Capsids are the protein shells of AAV viruses that can be used to carry a working copy of a gene into the nucleus of a target cell.
Roche is to acquire 89bio Inc of San Francisco, US, to expand its cardiovascular, renal and metabolic disease portfolio with a drug that is being developed for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). MASH (previously called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) is a liver disease that develops when fat builds up and causes inflammation. Without treatment, it can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Novartis is to spend $1.4 billion to expand its pipeline of drugs for cardiovascular diseases with the acquisition of US-based Tourmaline Bio Inc. Tourmaline’s lead asset, pacibekitug, a monoclonal antibody in development for atherosclrotic cardiovascular disease. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is caused by a build-up of plaque in the arterial walls and includes coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.