Finance, Grants, Deals

Twenty years after its launch as a nanomedicines company, Nanobiotix SA of France has secured a major licensing deal enabling it to complete development and commercialise a radioenhancer for use with radiotherapy to treat patients with multiple, difficult cancers. The agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, part of Johnson & Johnson Inc, was announced on 10 July. It carries potential payments of up to $1.8 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestones as well as royalties on net sales of the product NBTXR3.

Eli Lilly and Co is to expand its pharmaceutical pipeline with the acquisition of Sigilon Therapeutics Inc of Cambridge, US, which has a pre-clinical asset for type 1 diabetes. The two companies have been developing the asset, an encapsulated cell therapy called SIG-002, since 2018. The product is in lead optimisation and poised to enter clinical development.

AAVantgarde Bio Srl of Italy has raised €61 million in a Series A financing to develop genetic medicines for inherited retinal diseases. The financing was co-led by Atlas Venture of the US and Netherlands-based Forbion.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics AG of Switzerland has completed an upsized public share offering which is expected to yield an estimated $400 million, before commissions and underwriting discounts. The shares were priced on 27 June ahead of the close of the offering which is expected to be on or about 30 June.

A Netherlands-based company with new technology for antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) announced the completion of a $65 million Series A financing on 22 June. Tagworks Pharmaceuticals BV was founded in 2011 and currently has one preclinical ADC in development and four in discovery. The financing will enable it to advance the lead programme, TGW101, and test a new concept in oncology drug development.

Eli Lilly and Co is to pay $2.4 billion to acquire DICE Therapeutics Inc of South San Francisco, US, thereby bolstering its pipeline of drugs for immunological disorders. The transaction, which was announced on 20 June, is expected to conclude in the 2023 third quarter. DICE is building a pipeline of small molecule drugs directed against diseases many of which are currently treated by biologics. The company says that its technology has the potential to modulate protein-to-protein interactions as effectively as systemic biologics.

Eli Lilly and Co has signed a collaboration agreement with Verve Therapeutics Inc,  a clinical stage US genetic medicines company, to develop a product that can treat atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. This is a disorder arising from a thickening of the arteries, restricting the flow of blood to organs and tissues. An increase in a specific type of lipoprotein can cause the disease. The amount of this protein in individuals is congenital.

Novartis is to pay $3.2 billion upfront to acquire Chinook Therapeutics Inc of Seattle, Washington, US, in a bid to strengthen its renal portfolio with two Phase 3 assets for immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), a rare, progressive kidney disease. The transaction, which has been approved by the boards of both companies, is expected to close in the second half of 2023. It will take the form of a merger of Chinook into a newly formed Novartis subsidiary.

Syncona Ltd, the UK investment group, has launched its third gene therapy company directed against retinal diseases, including an inherited monogenic disorder that leads to progressive vision loss in males. The launch of Beacon Therapeutics Holdings Ltd was announced on 12 June and follows the UK group’s acquisition and restructuring of Applied Genetic Technologies Corp (AGTC) of the US. Beacon’s assets include a late-stage programme from AGTC in X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, the inherited monogenic disorder, and two proprietary pre-clinical assets identified by Syncona.

ITM Isotope Technologies Munich SE (ITM) has secured €255 million from an investor syndicate led by Temasek of Singapore to advance its pipeline of radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer. The round, which was also supported by BlackRock Alternatives and the Qatar Investment Authority, will help advance the company’s lead product for neuroendocrine tumours and expand capacity for the production of targeted radionuclide therapies. These are a type of radiation therapy in which a radioactive chemical is linked to a cell-targeting molecule such as a peptide or small molecule.