Finance, Grants, Deals

Isomorphic Labs Ltd, a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence for drug discovery, announced a capital raise of $600 million on 31 March, the company’s first external financing since its launch in 2021. Isomorphic is a spin-out of the DeepMind laboratory of Alphabet Inc, the parent of Google, and led by Demis Hassabis, a Nobel laureate. DeepMind is the developer of the AlphaFold artificial intelligence programme. Isomorphic will use the new funds to develop a portfolio of drugs both in-house and in partnership with Novartis and Eli Lilly and Co.

The UK biotech Epsilogen has significantly expanded its repertoire of antibody technologies with the acquisition of TigaTx Inc, of Boston, US, in order to treat more patients with cancer. The deal, announced on 7 April, equips Epsilogen, a clinical-stage company, with technology and assets of the IgA antibody subtype. These activate neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that is an essential part of the immune system. Epsilogen already has IgG antibody assets, the most abundant subtype, and IgE assets, a less common isotype which can activate macrophages.

GSK Plc has entered into a licensing agreement with ABL Bio Inc of South Korea for rights to a delivery platform for carrying prospective drugs across the blood-brain barrier to treat neurodegenerative diseases. The deal, valued at up to £2.15 billion, is one of the company’s largest transactions, reflecting its interest in treating diseases of the brain.

A prospective vaccine against infection from the Nipah virus moved closer to clinical development on 21 March with the award of $13.38 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The new grant follows $3.6 million in funding in 2023, bringing total cash available to $16.98. CEPI, a public-private partnership, is working with Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd of India and the US-based Houston Methodist Research Institute on the project, which will deliver a self-amplifying messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine to the market.

MaaT Pharma SA of France expects to make its first regulatory submission to the European Medicines Agency in June following a successful Phase 3 trial of its microbiome therapy and a capital increase of €13 million from a private share placement. The capital increase was announced on 27 March, not long after the company reported the latest clinical data for its therapy. The therapy, MaaT013, is being developed for patients with acute graft-versus-host disease with gastrointestinal involvement. 

Owlstone Medical Ltd is to receive an equity investment of up to $2.3 million from the US Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to develop a new breath test to detect a bacterial infection in patients with cystic fibrosis. The UK company has developed technology that can detect biological information from volatile organic compounds and respiratory droplets in breath. The newest project will involve developing a test for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram negative bacterial infection that can be particularly dangerous for people with compromised immune systems.

Novo Holdings A/S and Jeito Capital have co-led a new financing for Augustine Therapeutics NV of Belgium to support clinical development of the company’s candidate treatment for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, an inherited disorder that can cause nerve damage. The oversubscribed Series A financing raised a total of €78 million which includes an earlier sum of €17.5 million generated in 2024. Altogether 11 investors supported the company, including the US-based Charcot-Marie-Tooth Research Foundation. The closing of the Series A round was announced on 24 March.

A new biotech company has been launched in Seattle, US, and Singapore, with the goal of advancing the technology for antibody-drug conjugates - treatments for cancer that use an antibody and linker to deliver a cytotoxic agent to cancer cells. The company, Callio Therapeutics Inc, is developing ADCs that would be equipped with more than one cytotoxic payload. The company says this structure could increase the efficacy of ADCs, a drug class which is attracting developers across the industry.

Zealand Pharma A/S is partnering with the Roche Group to co-develop a candidate drug for obesity discovered by the Danish company with potential as both a monotherapy and in combination with other drugs. This includes in combination with an obesity asset owned by Roche. The drug is petrelintide, a long-acting amylin analogue which has delivered reductions in body weight of up to a mean 8.6% in early clinical studies. Amylin is a peptide hormone that restores sensitivity to leptin, a satiety hormone that enables people to feel naturally full after having eaten a meal.

A UK biotech launched in 2023 to use protein degradation technology to develop new drugs for neurodegenerative diseases has raised $31 million in seed funding from a selection of UK and US investors. The company, TRIMTECH Therapeutics Ltd, has a pipeline of small molecule candidate therapies for disorders including Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases. The drugs are intended to target the body’s ubiquitin-proteasome system to mark proteins for degradation. The proteins are toxic aggregates associated with a range of neurodegenerative and inflammatory disorders.