Complement Therapeutics GmbH has raised €72 million in a Series A financing round to advance its portfolio of therapeutics for complement mediated diseases, initially focused on a gene therapy for the treatment of geographic atrophy. The Munich, Germany-based company is a spin-out of Manchester University, UK, and led by Rafiq Hasan, formerly head of ophthalmology at Bayer AG.
Repron Therapeutics Srl, a start-up biotech company with epigenetic silencing technology, was launched on 14 April following the completion of a €2 million seed financing round led by Claris Ventures of Turin, Italy. Based in Milan, Repron was founded by Vania Broccoli and Alessandro Sessa, both affiliated with San Raffaele Hospital, the largest private hospital group in Italy. The seed investment is expected to accelerate the development of the epigenetic platform which has been designed to silence oncogene networks in order to repress tumour recurrence in several cancer indications.
Neuromod Devices Ltd of Ireland has raised €30 million in financing to support the further commercialisation of its device for the treatment of tinnitus, a medical condition in which a person experiences ringing in one or both ears which isn’t caused by an external source. The funding consists of a €15 million expansion of an earlier Series B round and €15 million in venture debt from the European Investment Bank. The Series B extension was led by Panakès Partners of Milan, Italy.
A project initiated by the European Medicines Agency in 2022 to collect data on healthcare, disease prevalence, and the use of medicinal products, is entering its second year with plans to quadruple the number of studies. The project looks at real-world data, or data on a patient’s health from sources other than clinical trials, and real-world evidence, which is the analysis of this data.
The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) of Ghana has approved a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, UK, to prevent malaria – the first regulatory clearance for the product globally. The vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, is a subunit vaccine made up of a protein secreted by the malaria parasite and fused to a fragment of the hepatitis B virus. It is delivered alongside a plant-based adjuvant that enhances a person’s immune response. The adjuvant was developed by Novavax Inc of the US. The vaccine is being manufactured and scaled up by the Serum Institute of India PvT Ltd.
Switzerland-based Alentis Therapeutics AG has completed a Series C financing of $105 million to support the development of antibody therapeutics to treat cancer and fibrosis, rounding out the next stage in its anti claudin-1 development programme. Claudins are a group of membrane proteins that are essential for cell growth and differentiation. One of these proteins, claudin-1, is a target of considerable interest in the scientific community.
Novo Nordisk A/S is to collaborate with the Canadian biotech company Aspect Biosystems Ltd to use bioprinting technology to advance its work in cell therapies for diabetes and obesity. Novo is a leading producer of insulins and more recently glucagon-like peptide 1 medicines for the treatment of diabetes. It has also been building a presence in regenerative medicine.
The economic environment may be difficult, but there’s still plenty of money looking for good science, according to a panel of venture capitalists offering advice to start-ups at the Terrapinn Advanced Therapies Congress in London on 14 and 15 March. The conference came shortly after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and all three VCs called on standard banks to become more start-up friendly, and advised start-ups to diversify their funds across a number of banks, wherever possible.
Bicycle Therapeutics Plc has entered a strategic collaboration with Novartis to pair its peptide technology with Novartis’ experience in radiopharmaceutical development to design new therapies for cancer. The agreement was announced on 28 March and will include a $50 million upfront payment to Bicycle and milestone commitments of up to $1.7 billion. Bicycle’s molecules are synthetic peptides held in place with small molecule scaffolds to form two loops that stabilise the structure. This creates a small binding site for its therapies which are said to achieve very specific targeting.
Galapagos NV has consolidated its drug discovery activities under a new agreement with the French contract research organisation (CRO) NovAliX SAS enabling it to focus on fewer therapeutic areas. Announced on 30 March, the agreement will see NovAliX acquire Galapagos’ research and discovery assets in Romainville, France. Employees of Galapagos at the same site will also transfer to the CRO.