News

BC Platforms AG of Switzerland is to collaborate with a US data company to significantly increase its access to patient information for real world evidence studies. The agreement with GeneVault Lifesciences of Cambridge, US, was announced on 18 December and is expected to give the Swiss company new data sources across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. These regions represent some of the world’s most genetically diverse yet historically under-studied populations.

GSK Plc has received US approval for a new biologic to treat severe asthma, a disease driven high levels of white blood cells in the airwaves which can lead to inflammation and a shortness of breath. The Food and Drug Administration decision, announced on 16 December, will introduce a new drug to the market requiring dosing only twice per year. Exdensur (depemokimab) is a long-acting interleukin-5 (IL-5) antagonist. It prevents IL-5 from activating its receptor on eosinophils, thereby reducing an overproduction of the white blood cells.

Forbion of the Netherlands has co-led, along with Novartis Venture Fund, a $130 million Series B funding for a US company developing small molecule chaperones to correct the misfolding of proteins in cells – a cause of Alzheimer’s and other diseases. The developer, Protego Biopharma Inc of San Diego, US, is a clinical stage company whose lead product is poised to enter a trial in patients with primary amyloidosis, a disease affecting the heart and kidneys.

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) is to pay up to $1.5 billion to acquire Arthrosi Therapeutics Inc of San Diego, US, which has a Phase 3 product for gout, a type of inflammatory arthritis caused by a build-up of uric acid in the blood. Sobi already has a product for gout in registrational studies in the US. The acquisition will expand its presence in the field where disease prevalence is expected to rise by more than 70% from 2020 to 2050 due to population growth and ageing, according to The Lancet Rheumatology.

Twelve former commissioners of the US Food and Drug Administration have rebuked proposed changes to vaccine policy at the agency saying that the measures will impede the development of new products to prevent infectious disease. Led by Robert Califf, the commissioners outlined their concerns in an article in the 3 December 2025 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr Califf was FDA commissioner until January 2025. Altogether, the group represents more than 35 years of FDA oversight and policymaking.

Laigo Bio BV, a Dutch biotech with a platform designed to promote the degradation of disease-causing proteins, has received €11.5 million in seed financing to advance early-stage programmes in oncology and autoimmunity. The financing was co-led by Kurma Partners of France and Curie Capital of the Netherlands. Other investors included France-based Argobio Studio, an incubator which participated in Laigo’s launch in 2022.

The European Commission launched a comprehensive package of measures in early December designed to realise the full potential of the single market for financial services. The package is a key component of the EU Savings and Investments Union (SIU) strategy, which aims to create a more integrated, efficient and competitive financial system and to support businesses across Europe in accessing funding.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a new gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a neurological disorder that can lead to progressive muscle weakness and in the most severe cases, death. The therapy, Itvisma (onasemnogene abeparvovec), has the same active ingredient as the gene therapy Zolgensma, but formulated at a different concentration. Zolgensma was approved by the FDA in 2019 to treat paediatric patients with SMA. The newest therapy extends the treatment group to older individuals with a confirmed mutation in the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene.

China-based multinational Tencent and the UK’s Business Growth Fund (BGF) have joined an investor syndicate to provide new Series A funding to T-Therapeutics Ltd, a Cambridge University spin-out which is developing T cell receptor (TCR) T cell therapies. The latest funding, for $32 million, brings the total amount raised under the Series A round to $91 million. It will be used to advance the company’s prospective T cell receptor products to the clinic. The therapeutic focus is on cancer and autoimmune disease.

Gate Bioscience Inc, a US company founded in 2021 to develop small molecule drugs targeting disease-causing extracellular proteins, has received $65 million in Series B financing to take its lead programmes into clinical development. This brings total capital raised for the company to $135 million. The financing was led by Forbion of the Netherlands with Eli Lilly and Co as a new investor.