Finance, Grants, Deals

Pfizer partners with Flagship in obesity

Country
United States

Pfizer Inc has entered into a partnership with a Cambridge, US, based venture capital group and its network of drug discovery and development companies, to identify proteins that might become the basis of new drugs for obesity. The venture capital group is Flagship Pioneering and the drug discovery activities are located at Pioneering Medicines, an in-house unit of Flagship, and Profound Therapeutics, a Flagship spin-off company. Pfizer has been collaborating with Pioneering Medicines since 2023. 

New microbiome research project

Country
Denmark

A new research project based in Denmark is to examine whether changes in the human microbiome can potentially cause cardiometabolic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Announced on 22 May, the project will be initially financed by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, a philanthropic organisation whose assets are managed by Novo Holdings. Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S, developer of the obesity drugs liraglutide and semaglutide. 

GSK acquires Elsie Biotechnologies

Country
United Kingdom

GSK Plc has acquired Elsie Biotechnologies of San Diego, US, in order to expand its presence in the field of oligonucleotide drugs. These are small pieces of DNA or RNA that can block the ability of RNA to make proteins. The two companies have been collaborating since July 2023 on the development of potential therapies for chronic hepatitis B and steatotic liver disease.

Seed funding for Tacalyx

Country
Germany

A 2019 spin-out of the Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces has raised additional seed finance from a venture capital syndicate to progress antibody treatments for cancer.  Tacalyx GmbH announced the funding on 11 June which increases its seed finance to more than €14 million. The company is developing antibody therapeutics that target tumour associated carbohydrate antigens. These are glycan structures often found on cancer cells but which don’t usually appear on other tissues.

Equity finance for ITM

Country
Germany

ITM Isotope Technologies Munich SE has raised €188 million from a group of investors to prepare for the commercial launch of its lead radiopharmaceutical product and increase its manufacturing capacity for radioisotopes. The equity financing was led by Temasek Holdings Ltd, a Singapore-based investment group, and supported by four other entities including the Qatar Investment Authority. ITM has a pipeline of candidate radiopharmaceuticals and diagnostics for cancer as well as manufacturing agreements to supply medical radioisotopes to others, including Novartis.

Merck to acquire EyeBio

Country
United States

Merck & Co Inc is to spend up to $3 billion to acquire a privately-held ophthalmology company and build a pipeline of candidate drugs for eye diseases. The company, Eyebiotech Ltd, was founded in August 2021 by two physicians and the venture capital group SV Health Investors. It has a lead drug poised to enter Phase 2b/3 for the treatment of patients with diabetic macular oedema. Merck will pay $1.3 billion upfront for the company, with future milestone payments amounting to up to $1.7 billion.

J&J buys antibody asset

Country
United States

Johnson & Johnson Inc is to spend $1.25 billion to acquire the developer of a bi-specific antibody for atoptic dermatitis, a chronic and sometimes life-long skin disease. The antibody, NM26, was developed by a subsidiary of the Swiss biotech, Numab Therapeutics AG and is poised to enter Phase 2. Investors in the asset include the European venture capital companies Novo Holdings A/S and Forbion, which supported its development for autoimmune diseases. J&J will acquire the Numab unit Yellow Jersey Therapeutics.

Evotec to research obesity

Country
Germany

Evotec SE has entered the obesity field under a new partnership with three French institutions where it will identify targets and diagnostic markers for the treatment of metabolic disorders, including over-weight and obesity. This is in response to the prevalence of obesity and the success of the first commercial medicines to treat it. Announced on 30 May, the partnership brings Evotec into an alliance with Inserm, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research; Lille University Hospital; and Inserm Transfert, a private subsidiary of Inserm.

Asahi Kasei to acquire Calliditas

Country
Sweden

Calliditas Therapeutics AB is set to be acquired by the Japanese conglomerate Asahi Kasei Corp in a transaction that values the Swedish developer of drugs for rare diseases at SEK 11.8 billion ($1.1 billion). The bid comes just six months after Calliditas received full US Food and Drug Administration for its lead product, Tarpeyo (budesonide), for primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), a rare kidney disease.

Grey Wolf raises $50 million in Series B extension

Country
United Kingdom

Grey Wolf Therapeutics Ltd, a UK company with a subsidiary in Australia, has raised $50 million in a Series B round extension to support development of a candidate drug for solid tumours. The drug, GRWD5769, is a small molecule inhibitor of an enzyme in the endoplasmic reticulum that plays a key role in the presentation of antigen to the human immune system. Initial data from an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial will be presented at the annual meeting of ASCO which takes place from 31 March to 4 June.