Imcyse SA has raised an additional €21.3 million in Series B financing in order to advance its pipeline of immunotherapy compounds and simultaneously brought Pfizer Inc on board as a shareholder. Earlier, Imcyse announced a licensing deal with Pfizer to develop a preclinical asset for rheumatoid arthritis.
Novartis and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced plans to work together to develop an in vivo gene therapy for sickle cell disease, one of the oldest known and most common genetic disorders. The project will pool the Swiss company’s drug discovery expertise with the Gates Foundation’s charitable healthcare mission. A therapy developed by the collaboration would be distributed to low and middle-income countries.
A spin-out from the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands has raised seed funding to discover and develop new T cell therapies for solid tumours including triple negative breast cancer. The company, Pan Cancer T BV, will be investigating T cell therapies which have been equipped with new receptors enabling them to target specific cancer antigens. The group of therapies is known as T cell receptor (TCR) T cells.
A company with technology for microRNA compounds has raised €18.5 million in a Series B financing round to advance a product for patients with advanced solid tumours. The company, InteRNA Technologies, is based in the Netherlands. Leading the funding round was AurorA Science, a biotech investment group based in Milan, Italy. As part of the funding, Gabriele Campi of AurorA will join the Dutch company’s board of directors.
London-based Abingworth LLP has raised $465 million from its limited partners for a new life sciences fund which will target companies with innovative therapies in the UK, Europe, and across the Atlantic in the US. The fund, ABV 8, exceeded its target size of $375 million and attracted several new investors including, British Patient Capital, a commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank Plc.
The German vaccine producer CureVac NV has completed a follow-on share issue on Nasdaq giving total gross proceeds of $517.5 million, including the exercise of the underwriters’ option. This comes five months after the company, which is developing a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for Covid-19, raised $245.3 million in an initial public offering. In the latest financing, CureVac issued 5.75 million shares at a price of $90 per share.
Ireland-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc is to expand its presence in neuroscience with the acquisition of GW Pharmaceuticals Inc which has pioneered the development and commercialisation of medicines derived from cannabinoids. The transaction is valued at $7.2 billion, or $6.7 billion net of GW Pharma’s cash.
A joint venture cell and gene therapy company set up by UK-based Avacta Group Plc and South Korea’s Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co Ltd has closed a Series A financing of $7.3 million to further develop its pipeline of advanced therapies. The venture, AffyXell Therapeutics, was established in 2020 and is located in South Korea.
The German vaccine producer CureVac NV has announced the pricing of a follow-on share issue on Nasdaq giving total gross proceeds of $450 million. This comes five months after the company, which is developing a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for Covid-19, raised $245.3 million in an initial public offering. In the latest financing, CureVac issued five million common shares at a price of $90 per share.
Enthera Pharmaceuticals Srl has closed a Series A financing at €35 million, giving it the resources to bring its lead product for Type 1 diabetes and gastrointestinal diseases into the clinic and develop other assets. The Italian company is developing biologics that are designed to inhibit a protein interaction thought to be critical in the death of beta cells in the pancreas and stem cells in the gut.