Sekar Kathiresan is building Verve Therapeutics Inc. around the concept of a one-and-done treatment for cardiovascular disease because only half of patients are disciplined enough to take a statin every day. “That’s a huge issue for durable cholesterol lowering after a heart attack,” Verve’s CEO and co-founder told BioWorld.
Arcus Biosciences Inc., in a presentation on the opening day of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO GI), reported a 41% objective response rate across the first four cohorts in its phase I dose-escalation study of AB-680, a small-molecule CD73 inhibitor for treating metastatic pancreatic cancer. The data also showed 88% of patients experienced at least some shrinkage of their lesions.
Nantkwest Inc. and privately held Immunitybio Inc. trotted out positive early interim results from their advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer studies showing median survival rates more than double the historic rates: eight month’s survival compared to only three. “Anything beyond three months has an impact,” Patrick Soon-Shiong, Immunitybio’s CEO and Nantkwest’s executive chairman, told BioWorld, with understatement about one of the toughest to manage indications in medicine.
Newly launched Inzen Therapeutics Inc. is wrestling with cell loss and what information those cells impart as they die. The premise, that cells leave a legacy to living cells, is at the heart of the company as it works to find and develop therapies based on its Thanokine Biology, which the company said could be used for preventing and treating cancer, fibrotic disorders, immune-inflammatory disorders, metabolic disorders and degenerative diseases.
As a virtual 39th J.P. Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference begins, typically one of the biggest events of the year, biopharma dealmaking barreled ahead with five new deals Jan. 11 that could eventually hit $1.04 billion in total.
LONDON – Enara Bio Ltd. has landed the first major deal around its dark antigen technology platform, signing up Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH in an agreement worth a potential €876 million (US$1.06 billion). Reaching that figure would require a product to make it to market. More immediately, Enara is getting an up-front payment, research and preclinical milestones for each of up to three tumor types explored in the partnership.
As a virtual 39th J.P. Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference begins, typically one of the biggest events of the year, biopharma dealmaking barreled ahead with five new deals Jan. 11 that could eventually hit $1.04 billion in total.
Chimerix Inc., which already has COVID-19 and smallpox therapeutics in clinical trials, has acquired privately held Oncoceutics Inc., bringing ONC-201, a small-molecule dopamine receptor D2 antagonist and caseinolytic protease agonist for treating recurrent gliomas harboring the H3 K27M mutation, into the fold.
In less than a year, Scorpion Therapeutics Inc. has raised about $270 million and just closed on an oversubscribed series B financing that climbed to $162 million. The new financing quickly follows the Boston-based company’s founding at the end of the first quarter of 2020 and the closure of a $108 million series A financing in October.
Imara Inc. reported a mixed bag of phase IIa study data for its lead candidate, IMR-687, for treating sickle cell disease in adults, bringing an end to a study that the company found cumbersome and that eventually stung its stock.
