Accure Therapeutics of Barcelona, Spain has been launched by investors in order to develop new therapies for diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). A Series A financing round amounting to €7.6 million was announced on 26 May, led by Alta Life Sciences and supported by the Centre for Technological and Industrial Development, an organ of the Spanish state.
France-based Tollys SAS has raised €2.3 million to advance the preclinical development of its lead cancer immunotherapy, bringing the total amount raised to €6.4 million since the company was founded in 2015. The Series A financing round followed the achievement of preclinical proof-of-concept for the candidate drug TL-532.
Roche has expanded its diagnostic capabilities with the acquisition of Seattle, US-based Stratos Genomics Inc, an early-stage sequencing technology company. The deal was announced on 22 May but financial details were not disclosed.
Stratos has patented technology for converting DNA into polymers that are reportedly easy to read. In principle this makes it possible to sequence DNA at a higher speed and lower cost than existing methods. The technology is called sequencing by expansion (SBX) and will be used in a nanopore sequencer that is being developed by Roche.
Moderna Inc was set to raise gross proceeds of about $1.34 billion from a public share offering that was launched hours after the company reported positive interim data from a Phase 1 study of its messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for COVID-19. The company is issuing 17.6 million shares at a price of $76 per share. The offering is expected to close on 21 May. Proceeds will be used to finance the cost of manufacturing its COVID-19 vaccine which still has to complete clinical development and be approved by a regulator.
Abivax SA is to receive €36 million in non-dilutive funding from Bpifrance, the investment bank of the French state, to conduct a Phase 2b/3 study of its anti-inflammatory drug ABX464 in high-risk patients with COVID-19. The randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled trial will recruit 1,034 elderly or high-risk patients at sites in France and elsewhere in Europe.
Switzerland-based ADC Therapeutics SA has returned to the US stock market to launch an initial public offering of its shares after cancelling a proposed offering in October 2019. The latest offering was expected to close on 19 May and indications were that it would raise a gross $232.7 million. The company is issuing 12.2 million shares at a price of $19 per share on the New York Stock Exchange. The Swiss company had prepared an IPO in 2019 but cancelled the event owing to adverse market conditions.
European investors, including INKEF Capital and the Dementia Discovery Fund, have joined a large syndicate of other institutions to raise $42 million in Series A money for QurAlis Corp of Cambridge, US enabling it to progress new therapies in neurodegeneration. Besides INKEF and Dementia Discovery, the round was led by LS Polaris Innovation Fund and Mission BioCapital. QurAlis intends to use the funds to support development of therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as well as the genetically related frontotemporal dementia.
Netherlands-based Kiadis Pharma NV has raised €17 million in two private share placements enabling the cell therapy company to advance products for patients with both liquid and solid tumours. On 6 May, not long after the financing completed, the company received notice from US Food and Drug Administration that it could proceed with a Phase 2 study of its lead product – an adjunctive cell therapy for blood cancer patients undergoing a haploidentical haematopoietic stem cell transplant.
The UK Medical Research Council, a public body, and LifeArc, an independent charity, are making £16 million available to establish a network of centres that will offer clinical grade viral vectors and translational and regulatory guidance to support academic-led patient trials of new gene therapies.
Grants for up to five years will support these gene therapy innovation hubs which will form a centrally coordinated network designed to enable the sharing of knowledge across all of the units, the two organisations said on 4 May.
Switzerland-based Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG is to work with Peter Yurchenco of Rutgers University, US on a novel gene therapy approach for treating a congenital muscular dystrophy caused by mutations in the LAMA2 gene. Santhera has entered into two agreements, the first with the university and the second with Prof Yurchenco, to research gene replacement as a therapy for LAMA2-related muscular dystrophy.