Finance, Grants, Deals

Paris-based Sofinnova Partners has announced the close of an oversubscribed €333 million life science fund that will invest in early-stage healthcare companies – predominantly in Europe. This is the latest addition to the Sofinnova business which also includes funds for industrial biotech and seed investments in gene and cell therapy companies.

GammaDelta Therapeutics Ltd, a UK biotech exploring the potential of gamma delta T cells as a basis for cell therapies, has created a new company that will investigate potential antibody therapeutics for cancer using the same technology.

Adverse market conditions were the reason cited by ADC Therapeutics SA in cancelling its proposed US initial public offering on 2 October. The IPO was intended to raise up to $200 million through the issue of 8.2 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

But the offering was cancelled a little more than a week after the launch.

Mogrify Ltd has raised $16 million in an initial Series A round to support development of its direct cellular conversion technology. This represents a new approach to drug discovery by potentially enabling researchers to transform any mature human cell type into any other without going through a pluripotent stem cell state. Leading the round was Ahren Innovation Capital, an existing investor, with participation from Parkwalk, 24Haymarket and the University of Bristol Enterprise Fund III.

bluebird bio Inc and Novo Nordisk A/S have entered into a research collaboration to jointly  develop in vivo genome editing treatments for genetic diseases, including haemophilia. During a three year research collaboration, the two companies will focus on identifying a gene therapy candidate for haemophilia A.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has entered a five-year collaboration with Lyell Immunopharma, a San Francisco biotechnology company, to develop new technologies to improve cell therapies for cancer patients. To date, two cell therapies have been approved for blood-borne cancers, but engineered T cells have not yet delivered strong clinical activity in solid tumours. Improving the fitness of T cells and delaying the onset of T cell exhaustion could help engineered T cell therapies become more effective, GSK said.

MiroBio Ltd, a spin-out from the University of Oxford, has raised £27 million in Series A funding from a syndicate of international specialist life science investors to develop antibody modulators of immune cell receptors for auto-immune disease. It is one of the largest A rounds for a European company this year.

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB is to acquire the US specialty pharmaceutical company Dova Pharmaceuticals Inc in a bid to broaden its haematology and immunology portfolios. The transaction is valued at up to $915 million and consists of a cash offer plus a contingency payment for shareholders if Dova’s lead product is approved for a new indication by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Microsoft Corp has made another foray into the biological sciences under a new collaboration with Novartis which will see both companies use artificial intelligence (AI) to energise drug discovery. The partnership, announced on 1 October, will involve joint research on new therapies for macular degeneration and support the development of cell and gene therapies. It will also use AI to explore new designs for future drugs.

STipe Therapeutics ApS, a 2018 spinout of Aarhus University in Denmark, has raised €20 million in Series A financing to advance a technology for targeting solid tumours by modulating the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway. This pathway is a major driver of innate immunity.