Zymeworks Inc.’s business update – which included a new, potential $891 million deal for multispecific antibody drugs with longtime partner Merck & Co. Inc. – drew mixed reviews from Wall Street, especially with regard to phase I prospect ZW-49.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – With some positive early data for an antibody to block the COVID-19 virus, San Diego-based Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. is now looking to test a product in a few dozen intensive care patients by the end of July or early August and move into a much broader pool of patients by October.
Blincyto (blinatumomab, Amgen Inc.), the first FDA-approved bispecific antibody, gained regulatory approval in 2014, but the intervening years have been fairly bleak for bispecific antibodies as companies worked through technical challenges.
By analyzing the antibody response of a survivor of Marburg virus infection, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have gained new insights into the function of non-neutralizing antibodies in fighting infections.
HONG KONG – China and U.S.-based Zai Lab Ltd. has signed on to develop and commercialize REGN-1979, a CD20xCD3 bispecific antibody from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Tarrytown, N.Y.
DUBLIN – Les Laboratoires Servier SAS has thrown its partner Symphogen A/S a lifeline by agreeing to a takeover deal in which the Danish firm will become Servier’s center of excellence for antibody development.
DUBLIN – Ethris GmbH and Neurimmune AG have formed a collaboration to develop nebulized, mRNA-encoded monoclonal antibodies directed at SARS-CoV-2, which will be delivered directly to the lungs of patients with COVID-19.
BEIJING – Suzhou-based Innovent Biologics Inc. has inked a deal with Alector Inc. to obtain the rights of the U.S. biotech’s AL-008, a dual function anti-SIRP-alpha (anti-signal regulatory protein-alpha) antibody, to develop and commercialize it for oncology indications in China.
HONG KONG – Korean biopharma Celltrion Inc. said it’s halfway through the process of creating a super antibody to reign in the COVID-19 novel coronavirus that has claimed almost 13,000 lives globally.
BEIJING – Zhongshan-based Akeso Inc., which focuses on bispecific antibodies, is again seeking pre-revenue listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), after its first IPO attempt failed to go through in December. The move comes at a time when analysts believe the coronavirus outbreak is weighing on the city’s IPO market.
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