News

France-based DNA Script SAS has raised $38.5 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round to accelerate development of its first products based on new technology for the synthesis of nucleic acids. Among the products are oligonucleotides.

The funding round was led by Life Sciences Partners of the Netherlands. Bpifrance joined the round alongside existing investors Illumina Ventures, M. Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, Kurma Partners and Idinvest Partners.

Italian-born Mauro Ferrari, who studied medicine in the US and advised the US National Cancer Institute, is to be the next president of the European Research Council, an EU body that funds investigator-driven scientific research. Professor Ferrari will take up his position on 1 January 2020. He is known within the science community for his expertise in leveraging nanotechnology to treat and diagnose cancer.

Another attempt to produce an effective therapy for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an aggressive brain cancer, has failed. This time it was a study testing the checkpoint antibody Opdivo (nivolumab) plus radiation in patients with newly diagnosed disease. The Phase 3 trial, known as CheckMate-498, did not meet its primary endpoint of overall survival at final analysis, according to the sponsor Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

Novartis is continuing to restructure its portfolio with the planned acquisition of a prescription medicine for dry eye disease from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. It is paying $3.4 billion upfront for the product, which has been approved in multiple markets including the US, Canada and Australia. Potential milestone payments are up to $1.9 billion.

BioNTech SE has taken a further step in building its portfolio of antibody assets with the acquisition of an early clinical-stage antibody and preclinical assets from MabVax Therapeutics Holding Inc of San Diego, US. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

H. Lundbeck A/S expects revenue and profit to retreat this year after an exceptional performance in 2018 when strong sales and a rolling restructuring project delivered an operating margin of 29.3%. This year revenue is expected to be within a range of DKK 16.3-16.7 billion compared with DKK 18.1 billion (€2.4 billion) in 2018.

MorphoSys AG is further expanding its commercial operations in the US in anticipation of Food and Drug Administration approval of its first wholly-owned antibody therapeutic by the middle of 2020. The product, MOR208, is an Fc-engineered antibody directed against the cancer antigen CD19. It is being developed for diffuse large B cell lymphoma in patients with relapsed disease who are not eligible for high-dose chemotherapy or a stem cell transplant.

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.

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.