Crispr Therapeutics AG's first stab at developing an allogeneic CAR T-cell therapy, CTX-110, looks promising, but the efficacy data were overshadowed by a death in the study.
Nuvation Bio Inc. and Panacea Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Ecor1 Capital, said they will merge, with the combined company to be renamed Nuvation.
HONG KONG – Yongin, South Korea-based Rznomics Inc. is on track to develop adenoviruses for gene therapies, after signing a clinical and commercial agreement with Cologne, Germany based-Cevec Pharmaceuticals GmbH. The partnership will use the German company’s Cap technology to manufacture the adenoviruses, while the therapies, targeting various cancer indications, will be developed using Rznomics’ trans-splicing ribozyme technology.
Dren Bio Inc. has closed on a $60 million series A to push its two lead programs through early clinical development. The company’s DR-01 is an antibody-based therapy for treating rare leukemias, lymphomas and specific phenotypes of autoimmune disorders. The company said it is initially targeting neglected hematology-oncology indications.
Cambridge, U.K.-based Bicycle Therapeutics plc’s phase I dosing about a month ago of its first patient with nectin-4-targeting BT-8009 put the company on the road to hoped-for success by pursuing the same mechanism of action as Padcev (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv), the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) from Astellas Pharma Inc. and Seagen Inc.
Investigators at the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group and the National Cancer Institute reported a roughly 40% match rate of patients to molecularly targeted therapies in its NCI-Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (NCI-MATCH) trial, ultimately leading to molecularly targeted treatments for almost 20% of trial participants.
Rayzebio Inc. raised $45 million in a series A round to build a platform company focused on developing targeted radiopharmaceuticals for solid tumor indications.
DUBLIN – The cash spigot is still turned on, as two more European firms disclosed series A rounds on Oct. 13. Chord Therapeutics SA took in €16 million (US$18.8 million) to repurpose cladribine for rare autoimmune disorders. Rappta Therapeutics Oy raised €9 million to take forward a novel concept in cancer, focused on developing small-molecule activators of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A).
DUBLIN – Priothera Ltd. closed a €30 million (US$35.4 million) series A round to shepherd an oral sphingosine 1 phosphate (S1P) receptor agonist through clinical development in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
A phase III failure of Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB's oral thrombopoietin receptor agonist avatrombopag to effectively outperform a placebo in treating chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia, or low platelet counts, sent company shares down 17.9% on Oct. 9.
RSS
