News

Sanofi SA is to acquire an experimental biologic for the treatment of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), a rare disease of the lungs and liver, in a deal valued at up to $2.2 billion. The asset is currently being developed by Inhibrx Inc, a Nasdaq-listed company in the US, which has a pipeline of four main assets. Sanofi will acquire INBRX-101, a recombinant fusion protein which is in a registrational trial for patients with AATD. The deal was announced on 23 January.

A group of European venture funds led by Forbion of the Netherlands has raised €75 million in Series A financing to support the launch of a new biotech company based in Oslo Norway. Calluna Pharma AS will develop antibody therapeutics for the treatment of inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. It has been created from a merger of Oxitope Pharma BV of the Netherlands and Arxx Therapeutics AS of Norway. Besides Forbion, the financing syndicate includes the Norwegian funds Sarsia Management, p53 Invest AS and Investinor AS. The venture finance was announced on 23 January.

A combination of Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) has been effective in reducing the risk of disease progression in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer – the first dual immunotherapy regime to show significant benefits as a first-line treatment, according to Bristol Myers Squibb Co. BMS, which developed both drugs, announced the results of the Phase 3 CheckMate-8HW trial on 20 January.

Evotec SE has reaffirmed its financial guidance for 2023 and outlined its ethics policy in a conference call with analysts on 22 January. This follows the announcement on 3 January by Werner Lanthaler, the chief executive, that he would be stepping down from his position for personal reasons. Mario Polywka, a member of Evotec’s supervisory board, has agreed to serve as interim CEO until a new chief executive is appointed.

An experimental chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy intended for the treatment of multiple sclerosis received a fast track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration on 19 January, indicating its potential to address a major medical need. The therapy is being developed by Kyverna Therapeutics Inc, a biotech company incorporated in 2018 and located in Emeryville, California, US.

The UK government, through its Innovate UK agency, has increased its five-year funding commitment to the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, an incubator for researchers and small companies working on novel advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs). Announced on 8 January, the new financial award is £80 million which represents a 35% increase from the previous five year period. 

A new financing round for Revagenix Inc has drawn attention to the ongoing need of the healthcare community for novel antibiotics to overcome resistance to current therapies. On 5 January, Revagenix announced the completion of a Series B financing round along with the appointment of three new investment professionals to its board of directors. The size of the Series B round wasn’t disclosed. It will complement existing US government funding to support the company’s lead programme.

A syndicate of investors led by Sunstone Life Science Ventures has awarded €10 million to Resalis Therapeutics Srl of Italy to advance a non-coding RNA-based compound into the clinic for obesity. The goal is to develop a treatment that could be combined with currently approved glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) medicines and achieve weight reduction that is longer lasting than at present, while preserving muscle mass. In connection with the financing, Claus Andersson, general partner of Sunstone, will join the Resalis Board of Directors.

Galapagos NV continued to advance its plan to bring the manufacture of cell therapies closer to patients under an agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc to supply services to a new production site in California, US. Announced on 4 January, the collaboration is the latest iteration of a strategy being rolled out by Paul Stoffels, a former chief scientific officer at Johnson & Johnson Inc, who became the Galapagos CEO on 1 April 2022.

Novartis is to take over Calypso Biotech BV, a portfolio company of Gilde Healthcare, a specialist investor based in the Netherlands. Calypso is a spin out of Merck KGaA and is researching and developing antibody therapeutics for a range of chronic autoimmune diseases by blocking interleukin-15 (IL-15). IL-15 is an immune axis that controls downstream immune cascades in many autoimmune diseases.