Finance, Grants, Deals

ITM Isotope Technologies Munich SE has raised €188 million from a group of investors to prepare for the commercial launch of its lead radiopharmaceutical product and increase its manufacturing capacity for radioisotopes. The equity financing was led by Temasek Holdings Ltd, a Singapore-based investment group, and supported by four other entities including the Qatar Investment Authority. ITM has a pipeline of candidate radiopharmaceuticals and diagnostics for cancer as well as manufacturing agreements to supply medical radioisotopes to others, including Novartis.

Merck & Co Inc is to spend up to $3 billion to acquire a privately-held ophthalmology company and build a pipeline of candidate drugs for eye diseases. The company, Eyebiotech Ltd, was founded in August 2021 by two physicians and the venture capital group SV Health Investors. It has a lead drug poised to enter Phase 2b/3 for the treatment of patients with diabetic macular oedema. Merck will pay $1.3 billion upfront for the company, with future milestone payments amounting to up to $1.7 billion.

Johnson & Johnson Inc is to spend $1.25 billion to acquire the developer of a bi-specific antibody for atoptic dermatitis, a chronic and sometimes life-long skin disease. The antibody, NM26, was developed by a subsidiary of the Swiss biotech, Numab Therapeutics AG and is poised to enter Phase 2. Investors in the asset include the European venture capital companies Novo Holdings A/S and Forbion, which supported its development for autoimmune diseases. J&J will acquire the Numab unit Yellow Jersey Therapeutics.

Evotec SE has entered the obesity field under a new partnership with three French institutions where it will identify targets and diagnostic markers for the treatment of metabolic disorders, including over-weight and obesity. This is in response to the prevalence of obesity and the success of the first commercial medicines to treat it. Announced on 30 May, the partnership brings Evotec into an alliance with Inserm, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research; Lille University Hospital; and Inserm Transfert, a private subsidiary of Inserm.

Calliditas Therapeutics AB is set to be acquired by the Japanese conglomerate Asahi Kasei Corp in a transaction that values the Swedish developer of drugs for rare diseases at SEK 11.8 billion ($1.1 billion). The bid comes just six months after Calliditas received full US Food and Drug Administration for its lead product, Tarpeyo (budesonide), for primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), a rare kidney disease.

Grey Wolf Therapeutics Ltd, a UK company with a subsidiary in Australia, has raised $50 million in a Series B round extension to support development of a candidate drug for solid tumours. The drug, GRWD5769, is a small molecule inhibitor of an enzyme in the endoplasmic reticulum that plays a key role in the presentation of antigen to the human immune system. Initial data from an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial will be presented at the annual meeting of ASCO which takes place from 31 March to 4 June.

Commit Biologics ApS was launched in Denmark on 9 May with seed funding of €16 million to use a proprietary platform to develop new drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases. The seed funding was provided by Bioqube Ventures and Novo Holdings. Commit is a spin-out from Aarhus University in Denmark and was initially incubated by the country’s BioInnovation Institute.

UK based Pheon Therapeutics Ltd has secured $120 million in a Series B financing round to support the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). These are drugs that use an antibody to deliver a toxic payload directly to a cancer cell and kill the cancer in situ. The financing was led by TCGX of the US and other new investors including BVF Partners, Lightspeed and Perceptive Advisors. Four existing investors also participated in the round. They were Atlas Venture, Brandon Capital, Forbion, and Research Corporation Technologies.

ADC Therapeutics SA of Switzerland reached agreement with investors on 6 May to sell shares and warrants valued at $105 million to support its portfolio of antibody-drug conjugates for cancer. The new financing will lengthen the company’s cash runway enabling it to advance new indications for Zynlonta (loncastuximab tesirine), a marketed drug, and clinical-stage assets in its portfolio. ADC is developing antibody-drug conjugates for both haematological cancers and solid tumours. On 31 March it had cash and cash equivalents of $234.3 million compared with $278.6 million on 31 December 2023.

BioVersys AG, a Swiss antibiotic developer, has expanded a collaboration with GSK Plc to accelerate development of a candidate product for tuberculosis. The product, alpibectir, has reached Phase 2a and shown an ability to increase the efficacy of ethionamide, an existing antibiotic. GSK will take an equity stake in a Series C financing extension for the company, raising the total proceeds from the round to CHF 44.9 million ($49.4 million). The size of the equity stake wasn’t disclosed. The new agreement was announced on 7 May.