Acelyrin Inc. closed a $250 million series B round and, at the same time, unveiled a licensing deal with Affibody AB, involving an interleukin-17A (IL-17A) inhibitor, izokibep, which it is now testing in a pivotal trial in uveitis. Solna, Sweden-based Affibody is getting $25 million up front and could earn up to $280 million more in regulatory and sales-based milestones, as well as tiered royalties, ranging from high single digits to low double digits in percentage terms.
My Life Technologies Corp. has raised $4 million from investors to fund production and clinical trials for its microneedle technology. Based in Leiden, Netherlands, the company is developing a ceramic patch that can deliver vaccines or drugs through the skin. The technology could prove to be an attractive alternative to standard vaccine injections due to what the company says is its simple and painless delivery.
A successful fundraising round by a Chinese surgical robot developer last week underscored the potentially fast growth of a sector that remains underdeveloped in China. Chinese surgical robot company Edge Medical Robotics Co. Ltd. raised $200 million in a series C round, and plans to use the funds for the commercialization of its core products.
Ankyra Therapeutics Inc., a company developing new cytokine immunotherapies to boost localized antitumor immune responses, closed a $45 million series B financing. Proceeds from the round will be used to advance the Boston-based company's lead molecule, ANK-101, through IND-enabling studies and into phase I trials starting at the beginning of 2023, as well as to advance additional cytokine programs, it said.
Recludix Pharma Inc. launched with a $60 million series A round to target Src homology 2 (SH2) domains, and the new money will get the San Diego-based firm to reach the IND-enabling stage, CEO Nancy Whiting told BioWorld.
LONDON – Cancer immunotherapy specialist Valo Therapeutics Oy has raised €11 million (US$12.6 million) in an oversubscribed round that will fund the final preparations to move the lead program into the clinic at the start of 2022, and to prepare for an IPO later next year. The phase I will be the first test in humans of Valo’s Pepticrad (peptide-coated conditionally replicating adenovirus technology), which combines two different approaches for which there is there is separate clinical proof: oncolytic adenoviruses and peptide cancer vaccines.
Shares of cardiac diagnostics company Heartbeam Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAT) are trading lower than expected after it opened on the Nasdaq on Nov. 11. The digital health company priced its public offering of 2,750,000 units at $6, but as of midday, shares were trading at $4.56. It’s a disappointing start for the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, which is developing an ECG telemedicine technology to diagnose cardiovascular patients for ambulatory settings.