Finance, Grants, Deals

Quell Therapeutics Ltd has secured its first major partnership for the development of its regulatory T cell technology for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. An agreement with AstraZeneca Plc, announced on 9 June, will bring the two parties together to research and develop potential therapies for Type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease. AstraZeneca is to make an $85 million upfront payment to Quell comprising cash and equity. If the collaboration is successful, with the commercialistion of new products, milestone payments could exceed $2 billion.

Switzerland-based BC Platforms AG is to strengthen its position as a provider of real world data for clinical research with the acquisition of 4Pharma Ltd, a contract research organisation located in Turku Finland. The acquisition, announced on 1 June, will bring the Finnish company’s research capabilities, which include medical writing and data collection, into BC Platform’s global service offering. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Ariceum Therapeutics GmbH announced the acquisition of UK-based Theragnostics Ltd on 1 June giving it a US Food and Drug Administration approved diagnostic and a pipeline of radiolabelled small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of aggressive cancers.

This is the second major business transaction for the German radiopharmaceutical company, which was co-founded in 2021 by venture capital and private equity investors. The first was a peptide-based research collaboration with UCB SA of Belgium, announced on 11 May.

A Belgian start-up company, Dualyx NV, has raised €40 million in Series A financing to start clinical development of a new antibody therapeutic for autoimmune diseases. The antibody, DT-001, is an agonist of a receptor found on immune cells which is widely regarded as a master control switch in immune modulation. By agonising this receptor, DT-001 has been shown to activate regulatory T cells (Tregs) which keep the immune system from becoming overactive. The receptor is tumour necrosis factor receptor 2.

DiogenX SAS of France has raised €27.5 million in Series A finance from a venture capital syndicate led by the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Roche Venture Fund to advance a candidate drug for type 1 diabetes into clinical development. The drug is a recombinant protein that modulates the Wnt/beta-catenin signalling pathway, a regulator of key cellular functions. In preclinical studies it has shown an ability to regenerate insulin-producing beta cells, according to Johannes Zanzinger, investment director at the Boehringer Ingelheim fund.

Ariceum Therapeutics GmbH is to work with the Belgian pharma company UCB SA to discover new radiotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer and immune-related disorders. Announced on 11 May, the agreement follows a decision by Ariceum’s investors to provide a further €22.75 million in capital to the company to progress its pipeline.

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) is to pay $1.7 billion to acquire a company that will expand its presence in drugs for rare haematological diseases. It is the Swedish company’s biggest deal to date. The target company is CTI BioPharma Corp of Seattle, US which has a recently approved product for adult patients with myelofibrosis and thrombocytopenia, a condition that occurs when the platelet count in the blood is too low.

Astellas Pharma Inc is to pay $5.9 billion to acquire Iveric Bio Inc of the US giving it an ophthalmology asset under review at the US Food and Drug Administration. The asset, avacincaptad pegol, has been developed for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration. The FDA is expected to take a decision on marketing in August.

GSK Plc highlighted progress with its vaccine portfolio in presenting its first quarter financial results on 26 April. Shingrix, its vaccine for shingles, produced sales of £833 million during the quarter or 12% of total group turnover. This exceeded total sales from respiratory and immunology products and was well above revenue from oncology medicines.

Just a year after closing a €60 million Series B financing, Tubulis GmbH of Germany has concluded a licensing agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb Company to develop antibody-drug conjugates (ADC). Announced on 20 April, the deal will give BMS rights to Tubulis’ technology platform to develop ADCs for solid tumours. The number of products to be developed wasn’t disclosed.