The always-busy American Society of Hematology meeting in December promises to include some especially intriguing datasets from the bispecific antibody space, as multiple players are likely to unveil findings related to their CD20xCD3 prospects.
As Johnson & Johnson (J&J) made public the launch of a phase III trial with its COVID-19 vaccine, officials from the company and others at the virtual Biopharm America meeting discussed modes of innovation in the pandemic era.
Deals by Bayer AG’s “impact investment unit” called Leaps that build upon each other let the Leverkusen, Germany-based firm “basically renew [the company’s] technology platform” by tapping fresh sources, said Leaps head Jurgen Eckhardt. And the unit is casting nets widely.
As Johnson & Johnson (J&J) made public the launch of a phase III trial with its COVID-19 vaccine, officials from the company and others at the virtual Biopharm America meeting discussed modes of innovation in the pandemic era.
Early stage investment strategies and dealmaking in the age of COVID-19 became topics during the Biopharm America meeting, itself held virtually this year because of the pandemic. Kevin Johnson, partner and co-founder of European life sciences backer Medicxi, hailed an “unprecedented upswing” on the financial front. “There is no winter,” he said. “It’s amazing.”
Shares of Marseilles, France-based Innate Pharma SA took a hit recently after making known the adjustment of its lucrative deal with Astrazeneca plc for monalizumab in recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), but opinions are divided on what it means.
Palleon Pharmaceuticals Inc. CEO and founder Jim Broderick told BioWorld that the just-raised $100 million in series B money leaves the firm well positioned to push its lead oncology compound into the clinic next year, bolstered by a widely gathered team of experts – “almost a consortium” – in glycan mediation.
Though falling short of the outright takeover that some may have hoped for, Merck & Co. Inc.’s dual tie-ups with Seattle Genetics Inc. (Seagen) put the latter in solid position to shop for acquisitions of its own.
Investors clipped shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc recently as anxieties rose over the application by Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc for a patent that relates to a once-nightly oxybate product that could threaten the prospects for Avadel’s FT-218.
