Aktis raises $318M in first biopharma IPO of 2026
Radiopharma-focused Aktis Oncology Inc. priced its recently upsized IPO, selling 17.65 million shares at $18 apiece, the high end of its pricing range, raising gross proceeds of $318 million, a hopeful sign that 2026 might signal an opening of the IPO window for biopharma.

Aktis raises $318M in first biopharma IPO of 2026
Radiopharma-focused Aktis Oncology Inc. priced its recently upsized IPO, selling 17.65 million shares at $18 apiece, the high end of its pricing range, raising gross proceeds of $318 million, a hopeful sign that 2026 might signal an opening of the IPO window for biopharma.
Going Ollin on AMD, DME: Vabysmo in phase Ib crosshairs
Ollin Biosciences Inc. is gearing up for global phase III trials this year after disclosing favorable top-line results from its randomized, head-to-head phase Ib Jade study comparing OLN-324, a next-generation VEGF/Ang2 bispecific antibody, to Vabysmo (faricimab, Roche AG), which takes aim at the same targets. The drugs were tested in more than 160 patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) or wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Tecregen raises seed round to progress thymus-restoring biologics
Newco Tecregen AG has raised CHF10 million (US$12.5 million) to advance a novel way of regenerating the thymus in order to boost T-cell production and stimulate recovery of the immune system following stem cell transplants and chemo- and radiotherapy.
December caps mixed 2025 for biopharma funding
Annual biopharma financing values have fluctuated significantly over the past seven years, peaking during the pandemic-era surge in 2020 and 2021 before retreating in 2022. After rebounding to more than $102 billion in 2024, total financings declined in 2025 to $81.21 billion. Monthly totals in the year ranged from just under $3 billion (February and April) to more than $13.68 billion in October. December financings totaled $9.08 billion, comparable to November’s $10 billion collective raise.
Today's news in brief
BioWorld briefs for Jan 9, 2025.
Hisamitsu to go private with $2.5B management buyout
Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co. Inc. President and CEO Kazuhide Nakatomi is leading a management buyout to take the company private, citing mounting drug pricing pressures and tougher listing requirements on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Refining, like reducing and replacing, can improve animal research
The concept of the 3 Rs – reducing, refining and replacing animal research – has been championed since the 1950s, when William Russel and Rex Burch argued in their book “The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique” that the 3 Rs could simultaneously improve the treatment of research animals and advance the quality of scientific and medical research and testing. Current standard practices of animal research undeniably cause animal suffering at the same time that they have prioritized replicability over translatability.
Two to go: J&J the latest pharma to reach MFN drug pricing deal
And another firm has reached a most-favored nation (MFN) pricing deal with the White House. Johnson & Johnson announced Jan. 8 a voluntary agreement with the Trump administration aimed at improving access and lowering prices for medications in the U.S., in exchange for exempting the pharma firm’s products from tariffs.

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Analysis and data insight

Pandemic-era nonprofit funding fades from biopharma in 2025
Grant
The value of biopharma deals involving nonprofit partners declined sharply over the past several years, falling to about $127.43 million in 2025 after exceeding $21.4 billion in 2021. The 2025 total also represents a steep drop from 2024’s $754.56 million.
Industry considering options amid US vaccine upheaval
Regulatory
The chaos Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy has injected into the U.S. vaccine market could have long-term consequences as vaccine makers reevaluate business decisions and pipelines.
Stormy year in biopharma forecast
Regulatory
It doesn’t take a meteorologist to predict another stormy year for the biopharma sector, not just in the U.S., but also in Europe. Lurking within those storms, though, could be a few silver linings.
The economy: Top biopharma trends of 2025
Deals and M&A
After a volatile but ultimately strong year for biopharma stocks, 2025 delivered a mixed picture marked by sharp workforce reductions alongside resilient capital markets and high-value dealmaking.

Financings

Psithera spun out of Roivant with $47.5M and immune, inflammatory focus
Small molecule
December 2025 was a big month for announcements from Psithera Inc. The Watertown, Mass.-based newco announced its name change from Psivant Therapeutics, having come out from under the Roivant Sciences Ltd. umbrella – thus the dropping of the “-vant” name. The company also announced a $47.5 million...

Science

ADCs’ breakout 2025 and their still-unfinished potential
Conferences
Over the course of the year, and continuing into the latest scientific meetings, an extraordinary breadth of new antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) designs was reported, with innovations spanning targets, linkers, payloads, conjugation chemistries and overall architectures. Once defined by a simple “one...

2025 marks a breakthrough year for in vivo gene therapies
Drug design, drug delivery and technologies
Gene editing technologies are moving forward in preclinical development with innovative strategies designed to treat diseases at their root and even reverse them. However, many approaches still struggle to reach target cells or tissues – either they fail to arrive, or their efficacy is low. In vivo...
In 2025, science’s biggest story was political
Regulatory
In 2025, science saw its breakthroughs, which BioWorld will be covering as part of our end-of-the-year wrap-up. But the biggest science story of 2025 is not about any scientific advance. It is the politicized destruction of U.S. science, and the dismantling of a scientific ecosystem that has been...

Newco news

Addition launches with an all-RNA, lipid nanoparticle-based gene therapy
Financings
Addition Therapeutics came out of stealth mode to highlight its Precise RNA-Mediated Insertion of Transgenes (PRINT) gene therapy platform. The system is based on research of retrotransposons by Kathleen Collins’ laboratory at University of California, Berkeley, that was spun out into Addition in...
Hits’ Hyperlab launches as ‘virtual AI lab’ for new drug discovery
Protein
Things once done in laboratories can now be done with computers and AI, said Kim Woo-youn, CEO and cofounder of Hits Inc. “We live in the age of ‘digital alchemy,’” Kim told BioWorld, describing how AI is shifting some drug discovery processes from physical to virtual spaces.
Disco closes €36M seed round to advance surfaceome technology
Financings
Disco Pharmaceuticals GmbH announced the final close of its seed round at €36 million (US$42 million), as it shapes up novel targets it has discovered with its surfaceome platform technology for formal preclinical development.
Laigo raises €11.5M seed money for targeted protein degradation
Financings
Laigo Bio BV has raised €11.5 million (US$13.7 million) in a seed round for the further development of a new approach to inducing targeted protein degradation by E3 ubiquitin ligases.
Myrio first to develop binders with high affinity/specificity
Clinical
Myrio Therapeutics Pty Ltd. has been able to accomplish something no other company has yet been able to crack: to develop binders where both the affinity and the specificity can be increased.

U.S.

Moonlake preps for sonelokimab BLA in HS; no new trials needed
Dermatologic
The U.S. FDA signaled during a Type B meeting that existing data could support a BLA filing for Moonlake Immunotherapeutics AG’s sonelokimab to treat the skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), despite one of two pivotal phase III trials missing the mark.

Europe

Obesity meta-analysis provides important steer for next-gen drugs
Clinical
There are two significant messages for companies developing and profiting from obesity drugs in a meta-analysis of clinical trials examining the extent of weight regain after treatment stops. First, people taking obesity medication regain weight four times faster on average than those who lose...

GSK’s hep B approach hits functional cure goal in pivotal trials
Clinical
As widely expected, GSK plc and Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported positive findings from two pivotal trials testing bepirovirsen in chronic hepatitis B, showing the antisense oligonucleotide therapy achieved a statistically and clinically meaningful functional cure rate, indicating a potential...
Trump trade and pricing policies piled pressure on Europe in 2025
U.S.
After an all-night negotiating session that concluded after 5 am on Dec. 12, political agreement was finally reached on the long-awaited EU pharmaceutical legislation. The aim of the new rules is to improve patient access and increase the competitiveness of the sector, but for the industry, it was...

Clinical

Cardio works out for Monte Rosa in NEK7 phase I
Cardiovascular
Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc. followed up December’s positive prostate cancer data with strong interim findings from a phase I study with MRT-8102, a NEK7-directed molecular glue degrader in the works for inflammatory conditions driven by the NLRP3...
Alumis’ TYK2 envu in view as standout in psoriasis phase III
Dermatologic
A would-be psoriasis winner began taking more distinct shape in the competitive oral tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor space, and shares of Alumis Inc. (NASDAQ:ALMS) closed Jan. 6 at $16.23, up $7.92, or 95% – having traded as high as $22.30 –...
Indigo grills: Street querying Zenas phase III IgG4-RD beat
Immune
Zenas Biopharma Inc.’s positive data from the phase III Indigo trial with obexelimab in immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) set investigators to speculating about the bifunctional antibody’s odds in the marketplace, as the Waltham,...
November phase III successes led by HIV wins from Gilead, Merck
Analysis and data insight
BioWorld logged 170 clinical trial updates across phases I through III in November 2025, a decline from 252 updates in October and 230 in September, but higher than the 95 reported in August.
J&J’s phase IIb AD bispecific washes up on Jersey shore
Dermatologic
The strategy of taking aim at IL-4Ra (type I and II receptors) and IL-31 by way of a bispecific antibody in atopic dermatitis (AD) has not worked out as well as Johnson & Johnson (J&J) hoped when, last May, the firm paid $1.25 billion to bring the...
Mereo and Ultragenyx stagger as phase IIIs in brittle bones fail
Musculoskeletal
Two phase III studies of setrusumab, Orbit and Cosmic, for treating brittle bones have failed and left the developers floundering on Wall Street. Neither of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. and Mereo Biopharma Group plc’s studies of the monoclonal...

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