Finance, Grants, Deals

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.

An Israeli medical device company has been sold to Boston Scientific Corp of the US concurrent with the start of a pivotal trial intended to confirm the effectiveness of its lead product for hypertension. SoniVie Ltd has developed an intravascular device for renal denervation procedures. These procedures reduce activity in the renal nerves in the kidneys in order to help lower blood pressure. France-based Andera Partners has been a venture investor in the company since 2023. Separately, Boston Scientific has been a minority shareholder.

bluebird bio Inc is to be acquired by two private equity groups in a move to provide more capital to the gene therapy developer which was founded by two academics in 1992 and now has three approved products on the market. The transaction, which was announced on 21 February, will transform bluebird into a private enterprise from its current status as a publicly listed concern on the Nasdaq market. The buyers are Carlyle Group Inc and SK Capital Partners LP.

Novartis is to pay up to $3.1 billion to take full control of Anthos Therapeutics Inc, a Boston, US based company that it helped launch with Blackstone Life Sciences in 2019 to develop an asset for a cardiovascular disease. The company has a product in Phase 3 that was in-licensed from Novartis and is now being developed to prevent stroke and systemic embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation. Novartis had a minority stake in Anthos but will now take full control.

A German biotech company with genome editing technology has raised €8 million in seed financing to progress a nuclease-based product for cancer. Akribion Therapeutics GmbH is a 2024 spin-out of the industrial company BRAIN Biotech AG which supplies enzymes and proteins to the biotech industry. Akribion has in-licensed a nuclease from BRAIN which it says has promise for treating cancers. Its lead product will be developed for HPV-induced oropharyngeal head and neck cancer.

Two oligonucleotide drugs are to enter the clinic this year for the treatment of Huntington’s disease and epilepsy using a technology that directly targets the brain and spinal cord. The developer, Atalanta Therapeutics Inc of Boston, US, announced the prospective trials on 28 January alongside the close of a $97 million Series B financing round which will bring the candidate therapies up to the clinical proof-of-concept stage. The financing was co-led by the private equity group EQT Life Sciences and Sanofi Ventures.

Netherlands-based Forbion has raised €164.5 million for a fund that supports projects in the food, agriculture, materials and environmental sectors. Founded in late 2023, the BioEconomy Fund I represents a different branch of the biological sciences than Forbion’s traditional pharmaceutical holdings. The goal is to support environmentally-friendly businesses that can shape future behaviour and consumption.

Gilead Sciences Inc. has agreed to spend up to $1.7 billion to acquire rights to a package of preclinical assets directed against inflammatory diseases from LEO Pharma A/S of Denmark. Founded in 1908 and majority owned by a foundation, LEO has a global commercial presence in dermatology. The collaboration with Gilead will give the company financial support to further develop a small molecule programme for the treatment of multiple inflammatory diseases including atopic dermatitis, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.