Akcea Therapeutics Inc., a majority owned affiliate of Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Pfizer Inc. signed an exclusive, worldwide licensing deal for AKCEA-ANGPTL-3-LRx, which is being developed to treat cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The deal follows a period during which Akcea's stock (NASDAQ:AKCA) has sagged prior to rising Monday and big changes in the company's C-suite.
Rough times continued Friday at Arbutus Biopharma Corp. as it discontinued clinical development of AB-506, an oral capsid inhibitor, which is in a clinical trial for treating chronic hepatitis B. The decision was made when two healthy volunteers were found to have acute hepatitis.
Adicet Bio Inc.'s relatively newly minted president and CEO, Anil Singhal, found the company heading in the right direction when he took over in May, and the company's good standing, including a new $80 million series B fundraiser, is a result of that earlier stewardship.
After its momentum-building end-of-phase II meeting with the FDA, Contrafect Corp. will start a single phase III trial of exebacase to treat Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia before year-end.
Newlink Genetics Corp. and Lumos Pharma Inc. have agreed to merge, with the deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2020. Lumos will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Newlink, which will be renamed Lumos Pharma Inc.
The diversification at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) continued Monday with its acquisition of Dova Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a deal worth about $915 million.
Pfizer Inc. edged closer to Dermira Inc. in the rush for an approved treatment for atopic dermatitis (AD), a field dominated by Regeneron Pharmaceutical Inc.'s FDA-approved blockbuster, Dupixent (dupilumab), as Pfizer reported positive top-line results from a phase III trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of its oral JAK1 inhibitor, abrocitinib.
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.
