Amid a flurry of dealmaking activity to start 2024, Allorion Therapeutics Inc., a 2020 startup based in Natick, Mass., and Guangzhou, China, has been extra busy. Two days after disclosing a potential $540 million deal with Astrazeneca plc, Allorion inked a licensing agreement with Avenzo Therapeutics Inc. that could total more than $1 billion.
Following up on a 2021 partnership with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Bridgene Biosciences Inc. has signed up a second international drug company, Galapagos NV, to use its chemoproteomic platform, IMTAC (Isobaric Mass Tagged Affinity Characterization), to discover small-molecule drug candidates.
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH’s start to the new year includes two fresh deals across two continents. BI struck one deal with Kunshan, China-based Suzhou Ribo Life Science Co. Ltd. and its Mölndal, Sweden-based subsidiary, Ribocure Pharmaceuticals AB, to develop small interfering RNA (siRNA) treatments for nonalcoholic or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. It struck a second deal with San Francisco-based 3T Biosciences Inc. to develop cancer immunotherapies, which builds on an earlier collaboration formed last year. Combined, the two deals are worth more than $2.5 billion.
Umoja Biopharma Inc.’s gene delivery platform that combines a third-generation lentiviral vector gene approach with a novel T-cell targeting and activation surface complex brought Abbvie Inc. to the table for a pair of deals that could be worth as much as $1.44 billion.
The digital ink is barely dry from Jan. 3’s $1 billion ADC deal with Medilink Therapeutics Co. Ltd. and another $1 billion agreement, this one with Remix Therapeutics Inc., but Roche Holding AG is writing another big check. The newest addition to its billion-dollar collaboration spree is with privately held Moma Therapeutics Inc.
Kymera Therapeutics Inc. has identified proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) comprising an E3 ubiquitin ligase binding agent coupled to probable global transcription activator SNF2L2 (SMARCA2; BAF190B; SNF2-α) and/or polybromo-1 (PB1) protein targeting moiety via a linker reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, viral infection, neurodegeneration, liver, metabolic, cardiovascular, genetic and inflammatory disorders, among others.
Bridgebio Pharma Inc. has obtained FDA clearance for its IND application for BBO-8520, a first-in-class orally bioavailable and potent small-molecule direct inhibitor of KRAS G12C (ON) state. The company expects to begin enrolling patients with KRAS G12C mutant non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the first half of this year.
Iaso Biotherapeutics Co. Ltd. has established new collaborations with Umoja Biopharma Inc. for the development and commercialization of novel ex vivo and in vivo cell and gene therapies. These collaborations seek to advance off-the-shelf cell and gene therapies with applications in oncology and immunology.
Radiotherapy resistance and metastasis are among the top risk factors for refractory oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), the mechanisms of which must be elucidated, plus there is a lack of biomarkers to predict response.
Remix Therapeutics Inc. has closed a $60 million financing to advance its lead program, REM-422, into the clinic and for further advancement of a pipeline of RNA processing targeted therapeutics.