Merck & Co. Inc. has turned to Asia for a second time to get into the GLP-1 market. Shanghai-based Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. has licensed HS-10535, an investigational preclinical oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, to Merck, which said it looks to develop it “to provide additional cardiometabolic benefits beyond weight reduction.” Hansoh is getting $112 million up front and could bring in another $1.9 billion in milestone payments. In August 2020, Seoul, South Korea-based Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. exclusively licensed the once-weekly GLP-1/glucagon receptor dual agonist efinopegdutide for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis to Merck. Hanmi gained an up-front payment of $10 million in the deal, as well as the opportunity for milestone payments of up to $860 million.

Congress wraps US spending bill with lots of extras

With no time to spare, the U.S. Congress is coming together on how to decorate a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government running beyond Friday. At more than 1,500 pages, the proposed CR House leadership released late yesterday is laden with a lot of goodies and a few chunks of coal for the health care sector, as well as the rest of the government. Intended to fund the government at current levels through March 14, the CR itself is temporary. But its branches are filled with bits of legislation that had yet to make it through the 118^th Congress and numerous program extensions/reauthorizations that will outlive the CR itself. Among those are pharmacy benefit manager reforms and the pediatric rare disease priority review voucher program. Noticeably missing is the Biosecure Act, which had enjoyed strong bipartisan support.

Favorable phase II in DLB boosts Cognition stock

Shares of Cognition Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CGTX) were trading at 79 cents, up 33 cents, or 73%, after the Purchase, N.Y.-based firm disclosed top-line results from the exploratory phase II study called Shimmer demonstrating that CT-1812 produced strong therapeutic responses across behavioral, functional, cognitive, and movement measures in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Designed as a signal-finding study, the effort signed up 130 patients with mild to moderate DLB who were randomized to get one of two oral doses of CT-1812 or placebo daily for six months. The study met its primary endpoint of safety and tolerability. There was an 82% slowing in the total neuropsychiatric inventory, with particularly strong reduction in anxiety, hallucinations, and delusions in the CT-1812 treated arms, Cognition said. A marked reduction in caregiver distress turned up, too, which suggests a positive impact on patients’ day-to-day lives. Nothing is approved in the U.S. to treat DLB. CT-1812 is a small-molecule antagonist of the sigma-2 receptor designed to bloc, amyloid beta oligomers from binding to neurons.

Bioage, Novartis targeting aging-related diseases in $550M deal

Its lead program might have hit a safety snag, but Bioage Labs Inc.’s longevity data platform caught the attention of Novartis AG, which agreed to pay $20 million up front in a collaboration to identify drug targets for aging-related diseases. Taking into account potential long-term research, development and commercial milestones, the agreement could bring in up to an additional $530 million. The multiyear research deal aims to investigate biological mechanisms that drive diseases related to aging with the help of Bioage’s platform technologies, which the firm describes as combining longitudinal omics data that follow cohorts for up to 50 years to explore aging-related physical, cognitive and functional declines, along with analytics and machine-learning capabilities to identify factors linked to healthspan. Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis will bring to the table its work on the biology of physical exercise.

Cell mapping yields clues to metabolic health in obese individuals

Researchers at the University of Leipzig and ETH Zurich have used single-cell sequencing to identify differences between fat tissue of obese individuals who are metabolically unhealthy, and those who were in good metabolic health. The findings, which were published online Dec. 17, 2024, in Cell Metabolism, identify measurements that can be used to decouple obesity from metabolic disease. “Obesity is highly associated with metabolic disease,” co-lead author Isabel Reinisch told BioWorld. “But some individuals do not develop metabolic disease.” Reinisch is a postdoctoral fellow at ETH Zurich. The findings, Reinisch said, seek to answer “which kind of measurements can decouple obesity from metabolic disease” at the cellular and molecular level.

AI cancer firm Oncocross debuts with $60M IPO on Kosdaq

AI-powered drug R&D platform firm Oncocross Co. Ltd. is leading the procession of year-end Korea biotech IPOs this week, pricing an offering of about 11.85 million shares on the Korea Exchange at ₩7,300 each for gross proceeds of ₩85.56 billion (US$59.5 million). On its Kosdaq debut Dec. 18, Oncocross shares (KOSDAQ:382150) soared to ₩14,450 in early intraday trading – a 97% hike from its offering price – but closed at ₩8,960, or 22.74% higher, at the bell. Founded in June 2015 by CEO Yi Rang Kim, Oncocross combines the words “oncology” and “cross,” underscoring the company’s focus on cross-examining indications of cancer drug candidates. Funds raised from the IPO will aid Oncocross’s global expansion as it works to break even in 2027, expand services and add more joint research and development projects

Promise Bio raises $8.3M for immune-mediated diseases platform

Promise Bio Ltd. emerged from stealth with $8.3 million in seed investment for its precision medicine platform, which addresses immune-mediated diseases. The funding will be used to accelerate the development of the company’s technology that analyzes proteins and their post-translational modifications to predict the treatment responses of patients with immune-mediated diseases. “Determining the change in the protein level or relying on just blood count caused by a complex immune response is like looking at a black-and-white TV screen with poor resolution,” said Assaf Kacen, co-founder and chief technology officer, at Promise Bio.

Also in the news

Abera, Adicet, Actuate, Affimed, Akamis, Akari, Alpha Cognition, Anaveon, Biomea Fusion, Bionomics, Biper, Candel, CG Oncology, Eli Lilly, Esocap, Eton, Eva, Everest Medicines, Eyedna, Gilead, Ideaya, Immutep, Indapta, Iox, Jaguar Health, Karolinska, Kynexis, Lipocine, Merck, Merz, Microbio, Milliporesigma, Neutrolis, Noema, Orexo, Plus, Portage, Regeneron, Reviva, Sanofi, Satellos, Silexion, Sumitomo, Tenaya, Terray, Tonix, Valink, Viiv