Biotech News

by Laura Cowen on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 4:23 pm

Swedish company Calliditas Therapeutics has raised an €80M IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market — 20% above its initial target — to fund an ongoing phase III trial of its lead candidate treatment for an inflammatory kidney condition. Calliditas plans to use the net proceeds together with its existing cash resources to fund an ongoing phase III trial of its lead candidate drug, Nefecon, in patients with the inflammatory kidney disease IgA nephropathy (IgAN), also known as Berger’s disease. Initial results are expected in the last quarter of this year, with follow-up data due in 2022. If the trial findings are positive, the funds will also support the company’s bid to commercialize Nefecon in the US, as well as the development of other unspecified treatment candidates. The drug, which has already been granted orphan drug designation for autoimmune hepatitis and primary biliary cholangitis by the FDA, is a patented oral formulation of the well-known steroid-type medication budesonide. The formulation is designed to pass through the stomach and large intestine without being absorbed, delivering the active ingredient to the targeted area in the small intestine, where the disease originates. This means that a high concentration can be applied locally, limiting systemic side effects. Calliditas is the first Swedish company across all sectors to list on the Nasdaq Global Market in the past 15 years. The post Upsized Nasdaq IPO Yields Calliditas €80M to Commercialize Kidney Drug appeared first on Labiotech.eu.

by Ned Pagliarulo on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 4:05 pm

A large, controlled trial showed the repurposed malaria drug didn't help patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease any more than standard care. 

by Ben Fidler on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 2:35 pm

The China-based cell therapy developer, whose myeloma therapy is a rival to one from Bristol Myers and Bluebird, outraised this year's previous top initial biotech stock offering.

by Helen Albert on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 1:50 pm

Prilenia Therapeutics has raised €55M in Series A funding to launch late-stage clinical trials of its small molecule candidate drug in Huntington’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, incurable conditions that have very limited treatment options.  Dutch life sciences VC Forbion led the round and was joined by new Chinese investor Morningside Venture Investments and the Canadian firm Sectoral Asset Management. Previous US-based investors Talisman Capital Partners also invested in the round. Prilenia was originally founded in Israel, as Prilenia Neurotherapeutics. Prilenia Therapeutics, whose launch is funded by part of this Series A, is to hold Prilenia Neurotherapeutics as its Israeli subsidiary. The new funding brings the total raised by the company to €75M since it was founded in 2018.  The company’s lead candidate drug pridopidine acts by stimulating a protein called the sigma-1 receptor in the brain, which is believed to have neuroprotective effects. The company is testing the same candidate drug for a variety of different neurological conditions including Huntington’s disease — a genetic condition causing dementia and movement problems — the degenerative nerve disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and the neurodegenerative condition Parkinson’s disease. “Pridopidine’s mechanism as a sigma-1 receptor agonist is relevant to multiple neurodegenerative diseases as it rescues cellular processes that are commonly impaired in several different diseases, The post Israeli-Dutch Biotech Raises €55M to Fight Huntington’s Disease and ALS appeared first on Labiotech.eu.

by Arlene Weintraub on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 12:25 pm

Stanford team deploys CRISPR gene editing to fight COVID-19 arlene.weintraub Fri, 06/05/2020 - 08:25

by Nick Paul on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 11:50 am

Melinta wins bidding war to land deal to acquire Tetraphase ntaylor Fri, 06/05/2020 - 07:50

by Ben Adams on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 11:06 am

After Kaletra setback, AbbVie joins forces with biotech, academia for experimental COVID-19 hopeful badams Fri, 06/05/2020 - 07:06

by Jacob Bell on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 10:01 am

Atlas Venture started its 12th fund in March. By early June it had received more than $1 billion in demand, mostly from returning limited partners.

by Ben Adams on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 9:32 am

Bristol's Celgene merger sees it bounce Jounce drug pact badams Fri, 06/05/2020 - 05:32

on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 12:00 am

This year’s event, which kicks off June 8, will have a different look as an entirely digital conference.

on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 12:00 am

With the close of the fund, Atlas Venture said it will continue to advance its mission of “doing well by doing good” and building biotech companies that will deliver high-impact therapies to patients.

on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 12:00 am

Every week there are numerous scientific studies published. Here’s a look at some of the more interesting ones.

on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 12:00 am

Please check out the biopharma industry coronavirus (COVID-19) stories that are trending for June 5, 2020.

on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 12:00 am

Inovio’s development issues for its vaccine candidate have become mired in a conflict with the contract manufacturing organization it has worked with on previous projects.

on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 12:00 am

UK-based AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford have partnered on the global development and distribution of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222.

on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 12:00 am

Check out this article for the impacts that Biotech Bay companies are experiencing due to COVID-19.

on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 12:00 am

Questions continue to arise around a small company called Surgisphere and the data it collected that was used to form the results in two large COVID-19 studies, including one major study involving the use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine. Investigations are likely imminent as concerns ...

on 5 Giugno, 2020 at 12:00 am

Biopharma and life sciences companies bolster their leadership teams and board with these Movers & Shakers.

by Kyle Blankenship on 4 Giugno, 2020 at 10:30 pm

Chutes & Ladders—WuXi adds Celgene vet Chang to head CAR-T offerings kblankenship Thu, 06/04/2020 - 18:30

by Rebecca Willumson on 4 Giugno, 2020 at 7:38 pm

What does it mean to #BeFierce? Our new look tells the story rwillumson Thu, 06/04/2020 - 15:38

by Jonathan Gardner on 4 Giugno, 2020 at 7:10 pm

A separate agreement with India's Serum Institute aims to provide 1 billion doses of the experimental vaccine to low- and middle-income countries.

by Kristin Jensen on 4 Giugno, 2020 at 5:53 pm

Like its larger rivals, the Maryland company is trying to add manufacturing capacity for its experimental coronavirus vaccine as quickly as possible. 

by Anita Chakraverty on 4 Giugno, 2020 at 5:00 pm

Update (04/06/2020): After upholding four of Kymab’s patents addressing the production of antibody drugs earlier this year, the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board has rejected Regeneron’s attempt to invalidate a fifth patent regarding the same technology. So far, Regeneron has not requested a re-hearing from the Board regarding the decision to uphold Kymab’s first four patents, but it’s unlikely that the legal battle is over yet. Published 20/04/2020: UK biotech Kymab has won the latest skirmish in its ongoing legal battle with the US giant Regeneron regarding patents protecting their rival antibody-producing technologies. The outcome of the battle could have big implications for biotech patenting as a whole. In the latest clash, Regeneron challenged the validity of four of Kymab’s US patents named the ‘Bradley Patents,’ which address technology based on the production of human antibody therapeutics in mice. The US heavyweight requested a post-grant review of these four patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board. However, the Board declined to continue the proceedings, explaining that Regeneron “has not demonstrated that the Examiner materially erred” in the initial patent assessment. Kymab declined to comment on the latest decision. Prior to this latest decision, relative newcomer Kymab had staved off challenges from the more established Regeneron regarding equivalent patents that it had protected in Europe and Japan.  The post Update: Fifth US Antibody Patent Owned by UK Biotech Upheld in Regeneron Battle appeared first on Labiotech.eu.

by Ned Pagliarulo on 4 Giugno, 2020 at 3:35 pm

The U.S. government aims to have a vaccine ready by the end of this year or early next, and appears to be counting on large drugmakers like J&J, Pfizer and Merck to deliver on that highly ambitious goal.

by Ben Fidler on 4 Giugno, 2020 at 1:00 pm

The deal follows similar pacts involving Merck, Biogen, Roche and others, reflecting growing interest by pharmaceutical companies in the emerging field.