Zielbio Inc., of Charlottesville, Va., closed on a $25.1 million series A financing to further its lead candidate, ZB-131, a humanized monoclonal antibody against cell surface plectin, which is expressed on the plasma membrane of ovarian, pancreatic, lung and colorectal cancer cells.

The business Martin Moore started years ago in college to make ends meet was dubbed Orion. Many years later, his new business, Meissa Vaccines Inc., was named for a star in Orion's constellation and could more than help him make ends meet.

Amphivena Therapeutics Inc., of South San Francisco, closed on a $62 million series C that will allow the company to continue its study of selective myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) removal in hematologic and solid cancers and to advance its lead candidate, AMV-564, a bivalent, bispecific T-cell engager in a phase I trial for treating patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.

Looking closely at the logo for newly launched Omega Therapeutics Inc., there's a definitely an "O" for omega. But there's more. Lurking right there alongside the "O" is also an "A," indicating quite a wide range and vision.

Gaba Therapeutics Inc., of Newport Beach, Calif., closed on a series A of up to $15.5 million to create a new compound for treating mood disorders, particularly anxiety and depression.

As is often the case, it was a personal and devastating encounter with disease that brought Paul Mischel, a founder of newly launched Boundless Bio Inc., to the life sciences. When he lost his father to cancer, he dedicated his career to finding a cure.

Results from Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s phase II Believe 1 trial created a Rodney Dangerfield moment Wednesday when the generally positive data were met with the back of the market's hand as the stock dropped 21.8% on the day.

Management's first flush of excitement two years ago in creating new therapies and a new company led also to the creation of Edgewise Therapeutics Inc.'s name. "We were all talking and no one could get a word in edgewise," Kevin Koch, Edgewise's president and CEO, told BioWorld. "It just made sense."

A study two years in the making concluded that the NIH's Bethesda, Md., campus needs a $1.3 billion upgrade to its buildings and facilities in order to succeed in what it calls "a highly competitive global biomedical research environment."

Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc. is reeling from the phase III failure of its lead candidate, RP-G28, designed for patients with lactose intolerance. RP-G28 failed to demonstrate statistical significance in its primary endpoint as the top-line data showed it had no or little difference on patients compared to placebo. The data also show RP-G28 missed its secondary endpoints, all of which casts a shadow on the company and its pipeline.