News

Eli Lilly and Company has started separate Phase 1 trials of antibody treatments that could potentially prevent and treat COVID-19. In the first trial, Lilly is collaborating with AbCellera Biologics Inc of Canada and in the second, with Junshi Biosciences of China. In both programmes, the companies will attempt to show that an antibody directed against the spike protein of the coronavirus can block the virus from attaching and entering cells, thus neutralising it.

Within weeks of joining forces with the University of Oxford to develop a candidate vaccine for COVID-19, AstraZeneca Plc has secured manufacturing capacity to produce two billion doses of the prospective treatment as well as financial support of more than $1 billion from an agency of the US government. The company has harnessed resources quickly, even though vaccines are not one of its core therapy areas.

Genmab A/S has secured a broad antibody agreement with AbbVie Inc to develop up to seven new cancer products, putting it in a pole position to exploit new opportunities for therapies treating both solid tumours and haematological malignancies. Under the deal, the Denmark-based company will receive a $750 million upfront payment from AbbVie and is eligible for milestone payments potentially reaching $3.15 billion.

Recarbrio, an antibiotic designed to treat infections caused by Gram negative bacteria, has been approved for a new indication by the US Food and Drug Administration. This is to treat both hospital acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator associated bacterial pneumonia which can cause chest pain and an increased need for oxygen.

Adaptimmune Therapeutics Plc has returned to Nasdaq for a second time this year to raise a net $242.8 million for its portfolio of engineered T cell therapies, the most advanced of which is in a Phase 2/3 trial for synovial sarcoma. The latest public share offering follows a capital raising exercise in February which generated a net $89.8 million.

Forbion Capital Partners has led a $62.5 million Series A financing round for a biotech startup which is working on treatments for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. The company, Prilenia Therapeutics BV, was founded in 2018 and is based in Naarden in the Netherlands and Herzliya, Israel.

Oxford Sciences Innovation, a venture capital firm partnered with the University of Oxford, has helped launch a new epigenetics company to develop a blood test for the early detection of cancer. The new company, Base Genomics Ltd, has received $11 million in seed funding  to advance a new technology for DNA methylation sequencing.

The Austrian biotech company Apeiron Biologics AG has raised €17.5 million to expand a Phase 2 trial of a candidate drug for COVID-19. The trial has been launched in Austria, Germany, Denmark and the UK, and plans are afoot to open new sites in the US and Russia. The randomised, placebo-controlled study is expected to treat 200 patients with severe COVID-19 disease.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug to help image tau neurofibrillary tangles in the brain, a primary marker of Alzheimer’s disease. The radioactive diagnostic agent, Tauvid (flortaucipir F18), is indicated for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the brain to estimate the density and distribution of the neurofibrillary tangles.

A new vaccine to prevent Ebola virus disease has been recommended for approval by the European Medicines Agency following a development programme financially supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative, a public private partnership. The vaccine’s developer is Johnson & Johnson Inc. The positive opinion was issued on 29 May, just days before the United Nations Children’s Fund reported a new cluster of Ebola virus infections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).