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What makes a life science ecosystem flourish? Part of the answer is good universities, venture capital and a critical mass of entrepreneurs eager to commercialise new medicines. These are all features displayed by Cambridge, UK. How this plays out, and what might be done to improve the ecosystem were the subject of discussions at the virtual On Helix meeting on 13 July, organised by One Nucleus, a membership group.

Roche has struck a licensing and collaboration agreement with US-based Blueprint Medicines Corp for a drug entering registration for a group of cancers exhibiting mutations activated by the RET gene. The drug, pralsetinib, is being positioned to treat RET-altered non-small cell lung cancer, various types of thyroid cancer and other solid tumours.

The checkpoint antibody, Tecentriq (atezolizumab), in combination with three other drugs, did not meet its primary endpoint of progression-free survival in a Phase 3 trial of women with advanced ovarian cancer, the developer Roche announced on 13 July. Tecentriq was being investigated with Avastin (bevacizumab), paclitaxel and carboplatin.

A new venture capital fund backed by a syndicate of Swedish and Danish institutions, has been launched in the Nordic region to support promising life science companies. The fund, Eir Ventures I AB, is registered in Sweden as an alternative investment fund and will operate from offices in Stockholm and Copenhagen. On 10 July, it announced a first close of  €76 million.

Kiadis Pharma NV has secured its first major deal for a technology that involves the use of natural killer (NK) cells to detect and kill cancer. Under a collaboration with Sanofi SA, Kiadis will out-license rights to a preclinical asset for multiple myeloma as well as rights to two other undisclosed preclinical programmes.

Forbion Capital Partners has secured €185 million for the first close of a new venture fund that will support European companies with late-stage assets. The new Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund is being supported by returning investors Pantheon, a US private equity group; KfW Capital GmbH of Germany; and the European Investment Fund, a lending agency of the EU. New investors include Eli Lilly and Co, Horizon Therapeutics Plc, Belgian Growth Fund and New Waves Investments.

An experimental treatment for patients who experience spontaneous bleeding from anticoagulant drugs such as warfarin has received financial support from an investor syndicate led by Ysios Capital and INKEF Capital. The treatment is being developed by the Dutch company VarmX BV in order to reverse the life-threatening bleeding that can occur in about 2-3% of patients who take anticoagulant therapy to reduce the risk of stroke in atrial fibrillation and prevent deep vein thrombosis.

The European Innovation Council is to allocate up to €17.5 million in grant and equity finance to Osivax SAS of France to support the development of a candidate universal influenza vaccine that may also have application against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Osivax was spun out of the vaccine and genomics company Imaxio in 2017 with technology for reengineering antigens in order to induce strong immune responses.

Sweden-based Gesynta Pharma AB has raised SEK 190 million (€18.22 million) from a private share placement led by the European life science fund manager Hadean Ventures to advance a small molecule drug for patients with systemic sclerosis which is in the clinic.

UK-based Mission Therapeutics Ltd has raised $15 million from a group of institutions led by Pfizer Ventures, the venture capital arm of Pfizer Inc. The capital will enable to company to advance its portfolio of preclinical small molecule drugs that inhibit deubiquitylating enzymes (DUB) which are involved in DNA damage response. The company’s therapeutic focus is neurodegenerative disorders, mitochondrial diseases and fibrosis.