News

Eli Lilly and Company signalled its intention to broaden its neuroscience portfolio on 31 March with the planned acquisition of Centessa Pharmaceuticals Plc, a Nasdaq-listed developer of treatments for sleep-wake disorders. Centessa is developing a pipeline of orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonists. The lead product, cleminorexton, is in Phase 2a clinical studies for the treatment of two types of narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia, all chronic neurological disorders affecting sleep.

The Belgian biotech Galapagos NV has signed a binding agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc giving it rights to a prospective T cell therapy programme targeting autoimmune diseases. Concluded on 31 March, the deal centres on an early clinical-stage bispecific antibody designed to link a patient’s T cells to the B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) on plasma cells. In this way, it would eliminate pathogenic B cells and plasma cells in order to reduce inflammation and treat autoimmune diseases.

Abivax SA reported cash and cash equivalents of €530.4 million on 31 December 2025 giving the France-based biotech company sufficient funds to finance its operating expenses into the fourth quarter of 2027. This follows a successful public share offering in July that raised a net $700.3 million for the company on the back of unexpectedly robust results for two Phase 3 trials of its lead product obefazimod. Obefazimod is being studied in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, both subsets of inflammatory bowel disease.

Novartis is to expand its role in the treatment of allergies with the acquisition of a US company specialising in therapies for diseases driven by immunoglobulin E (IgE). The target company, Excellergy Inc, was only launched in October 2025, but with Red Tree Venture Capital as a seed investor and scientists from Stanford University, US, and the University of Bern, Switzerland, working in the background, it has produced a monoclonal antibody that is already in Phase 1.

 Immutrin Ltd has raised £65 million to advance its lead antibody therapy to treat ATTR cardiomyopathy, a serious form of amyloidosis. The oversubscribed Series A financing was led by new investor Frazier Life Sciences with participation from F-Prime, Qiming Venture Partners, SR One and the biotech company’s founding investors Cambridge Innovation Capital and Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, UK. Amyloidosis is caused by misfolded proteins that aggregate into amyloid fibrils and accumulate in tissues and organs, leading to irreversible organ damage. 

Merck & Co Inc is to expand its oncology portfolio with the acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals Inc of Foster City, California, US. Announced on 25 March, the deal will give Merck an early-clinical stage small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor, TERN-701, for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). The target is an abnormal fusion gene which drives the growth of cancer cells in both CML and some types of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

The Belgian biotech Galapagos NV has announced a new strategy focused on the development of potential chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. If executed, the strategy would involve recalibrating a long-term relationship with Gilead Sciences Inc with whom it has been working since 2015. In separate statements on 23 March, Gilead announced the acquisition of the privately-held US biotech company Ouro Medicines Inc, and Galapagos said it is in discussions with Gilead to share the cost of developing the target company’s lead asset.

Abivax SA reported cash and cash equivalents of €530.4 million on 31 December 2025 giving the France-based biotech company sufficient funds to finance its operating expenses into the fourth quarter of 2027. This follows a successful public share offering in July that raised a net $700.3 million for the company on the back of unexpectedly robust results for two Phase 3 trials of its lead product obefazimod. Obefazimod is being studied in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, both subsets of inflammatory bowel disease.

A German company developing cell therapies to treat autoimmune diseases has been accepted into the European Medicines Agency’s support scheme PRIME, a regulatory pathway for small and medium-sized enterprises developing drugs for serious medical needs. The Heidelberg-based company, TolerogenixX GmbH, has received PRIME designation for its lead cell therapy candidate MIC-Lx for the treatment of immuno-suppression in live donor kidney transplantation.

The European Medicine Agency is updating its PRIME scheme, a programme of regulatory support for developers of novel medicines meeting a major public health need, in order to tighten reviews. The programme was introduced in 2016 to give special assistance to developers of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) and other new technologies largely produced by small and medium-sized enterprises.