News

H. Lundbeck A/S is poised to expand its portfolio of medicines for neurological diseases with the acquisition of Abide Therapeutics Inc, a US company whose lead product is being developed for Tourette syndrome and neuropathic pain. The product, ABX-1431, inhibits the serine hydrolase monoacylglycerol lipase (MGLL), a key enzyme in the brain.

According to the US National Cancer Institute, the compound has potential for use in the  treatment of various central nervous system (CNS) diseases because of its analgesic and anti-neuroinflammatory activities.

Confo Therapeutics NV, which has a new approach to drug discovery, has raised €30 million in a Series A financing round – one of the largest A financing rounds in Belgium. The round was led by the Dutch early-stage investor BioGeneration Ventures and co-led by Wellington Partners with participation by eight other institutions including Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), a co-founder of the company.

Roche has secured a new indication for its antibody-drug conjugate Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine) that extends the drug’s approved use to early breast cancer in patients who have had surgery but still show residual signs of disease. Treatment would take place after chemotherapy and antibody therapy. Kadcyla was first approved for late-stage breast cancer in 2013. In both cases, patients have tumours that overexpress the HER2 protein.

Promethera Biosciences SA has completed a Series D financing round to support the development of its cell therapies for liver disease, raising €39.7 million from global investors. A total of €10 million of the funding was committed by the Japanese conglomerate Itochu Corp in January.

A new Switzerland-based company, Alentis Therapeutics Ltd, has received CHF 12.5 million (€11.1 million) in Series A funding to develop an antibody drug for the potential treatment of liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The technology is based on research conducted by scientists at the University of Strasbourg and Inserm in France, as well as the Mount Sinai Hospital in the US.

PolyProx Therapeutics Ltd, a spin-out of the University of Cambridge, has secured £3.4 million in seed capital to finance the development of a new class of engineered proteins for treating cancer. The seed round was co-led by Cambridge Innovation Capital Plc, RT Capital Management and Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialisation arm of Cambridge University.

UK-based Congenica Ltd has raised an additional £13.25 million in a Series B round extension, bringing total receipts from the round up to £23.3 million. Led by Parkwalk Advisors with participation from Cambridge Innovation Capital Plc, the funding will enable the genome services group to further develop its technology and expand in the US and China.

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued its first-ever draft guidance on the development of stimulant drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a condition whose symptoms include inattention and high levels of activity. While many of the recommendations are already in practice, the document gives clarification on the agency’s expectations for clinical trial design.

Kite Pharma is to get its own chief executive under a reorganisation initiated by its parent company Gilead Sciences Inc, which has owned Kite since 2017. The move was disclosed on 2 May with Gilead’s first-quarter earnings announcement.

Daniel O’Day, the Gilead CEO, said in a conference call with analysts that Kite will become a separate business unit, according to Reuters.

Novo Nordisk A/S secured a 9% increase in sales to DKK 29.3 billion (€3.9 billion) in the first quarter and a 14% rise in operating profit to DKK 14.2 billion. But a foreign exchange loss of DKK 876 million depressed the net profit which was DKK 10.4 billion, down by 3%. This followed an unsuccessful attempt to hedge against changes in the value of the dollar against the krone.