In a new licensing deal cut with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi), ADC Therapeutics SA is getting a $55 million up-front payment and could receive $50 million more upon regulatory approval of Zynlonta (loncastuximab tesirine) in third-line diffuse large B-cell lymphoma by the European Commission.
Three serious adverse events have led the U.S. FDA to place a clinical hold on Diamedica Therapeutics Inc.’s phase II/III study of DM-199, a synthetic form of human tissue kallikrein-1 for treating acute ischemic stroke. The blood pressure in three participants dropped to a significantly low level shortly after receiving an I.V. dose of the therapy. All three bounced back to normal within minutes of stopping the I.V.
Skyhawk Therapeutics Inc. has cut a deal with Sanofi SA to discover and develop small molecules to treat targets in oncology and immunology, adding to its lengthy list of partnerships.
To build on its hematology pipeline in treating blood cancers, Astrazeneca plc is acquiring Teneotwo Inc. in a deal that could reach $1.27 billion. Teneotwo is part of Ancora Biotech LLC, which has some other affiliate Tens in the stable, including Teneofour Inc. That company is developing TNB-738, an anti-CD38 enzyme inhibitor. Teneoten Inc. is developing an anti-HBV/CD3 therapy. Both are available for partnering or sale, Ben Buelow, Ancora co-founder, told BioWorld. He co-founded the company with this father, Roland.
More than five years after agreeing to collaborate in a deal that had the potential to top $1 billion, Akebia Therapeutics Inc. executed an agreement to terminate its troubled partnership to develop vadadustat with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Otsuka will pay Akebia a $55 million settlement fee.
Despite mostly positive data from the ongoing phase III study of Talaris Therapeutics Inc.’s lead asset, FCR-001, an allogeneic cell therapy for treating living donor kidney transplant patients, investors are stepping away. The Boston and Louisville, Ky.-based company’s stock took a hit June 20 as shares (NASDAQ:TALS) fell 36.7% to $4.51 each.
Novartis AG is making good on its plan to streamline the company so it can save $1 billion by 2024. The Basel, Switzerland-based company told BioWorld the restructuring that’s underway could impact 8,000 positions around the world, with 1,400 of them in Switzerland.
Priovant Therapeutics Inc. is the newest of the Vants, a creature of Roivant Sciences Ltd., of Basel, Switzerland and Pfizer Inc. Established in September 2021, Priovant is developing brepocitinib, a tyrosine kinase 2 and JAK1 inhibitor for treating multiple highly inflammatory autoimmune diseases.
Axsome Therapeutics Inc. and the U.S. FDA appear to be working out their differences. The company said it received the proposed labeling from the agency for AXS-05 (dextromethorphan + bupropion), an oral NMDA receptor antagonist with multimodal activity, for treating major depressive disorder.
The only way to avoid food allergies right now is to stay away from whatever triggers them and, at best, grab some rescue epinephrine in case there’s trouble. Peanut allergies have an FDA-approved treatment, but the remainder of the troublemakers don’t have any therapies. Hoping to change that, Alladapt Immunotherapeutics Inc. closed a $119 million financing to develop its food allergy treatments. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company’s lead candidate is ADP-101, an oral immunotherapy that is in a phase I/II trial and an open-label extension study of children and adults.
