A Phase 3 trial of the checkpoint inhibitor Libtayo (cemiplimab) combined with chemotherapy for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer was stopped early for efficacy, the sponsors Sanofi SA and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc announced on 5 August. The combination therapy was found to reduce the risk of death by 29% compared with chemotherapy alone in a trial of 466 patients with locally advanced and metastatic disease.
Sanofi SA is to further extend its investment in messenger RNA (mRNA) technology with a bid to acquire Translate Bio Inc, a company with which it has had an mRNA vaccine collaboration since June 2018. The French company is offering $38 per share in cash for Translate Bio, giving a transaction value of $3.2 billion. Sanofi will finance the deal internally.
T-knife Therapeutics Inc has raised $110 million in a Series B financing round to advance its preclinical portfolio of T cell receptor (TCR) therapies for cancer. The technology originated in Germany and will be developed and commercialised by teams based in Berlin and San Francisco, US.
The Italian healthcare group, Angelini Pharma, has become the sole institutional investor in a new venture fund that will provide capital to promising neuroscience companies in North America. The fund will be managed by Lumira Ventures of Canada and is called Angelini Lumira Biosciences Fund (ALBF). Angelini will commit $35 million to the fund in addition to investing $5 million in Lumira Ventures IV, a separate fund.
Sanofi SA completed three acquisitions in the second quarter, signalling a new direction for research and development and potentially lifting the company’s dependence on sales of the immunology drug Dupixent. Acquisitions of Kiadis Pharma, a cell therapy company; Kymab Group, an antibody developer; and Tidal Therapeutics, a company with messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, were completed in April.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc pulled ahead in the second quarter recording a rise in turnover of 6% to £8.1 billion. This followed a double-digit decline in the first three months of the year. Operating profit for the latest quarter was £1.7 billion, down by 41% from the previous year, when the company recorded one-off income from several asset disposals.
AstraZeneca Plc reported double-digit revenue growth for the second quarter and first half year driven by several oncology medicines and by Farxiga, a diabetes drug recently approved in the US for chronic kidney disease. On 21 July, the company also completed the acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals for $39 billion – a deal that will give it a rare disease portfolio and strengthen group revenue going forward. Alexion’s technology is based on complement biology.
MorphoSys AG ended the first half year poised to take over development of a new group of cancer drugs and potentially expand the indications for its first marketed product Monjuvi. The change comes as the company completes the acquisition of Constellation Pharmaceuticals Inc and advances trials for new uses of Monjuvi, its wholly-owned drug for refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma. “We are writing the next chapter in our company’s history,” the MorphoSys chief executive Jean-Paul Kress, told investors during a briefing on 29 July. Dr Kress has been CEO since June 2019.
AC Immune SA is to acquire a candidate vaccine and other assets to treat Parkinson’s disease in a strategic move to broaden its portfolio of drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The Switzerland-based company already has a portfolio of candidate drugs for Alzheimer’s disease. The acquisition – from Affiris AG of Austria – will give it a vaccine for Parkinson’s disease which has been validated in a Phase 1 clinical trial.
Artios Pharma Ltd, which is building a portfolio of small molecule drugs designed to kill cancer cells by blocking their ability to repair damaged DNA, has raised $153 million in a Series C financing round. The company is preparing to take a compound targeting DNA polymerase theta (Pol theta) into clinical development before the end of the year. Pol theta is an enzyme that plays a role in the proliferation of certain cancer cells but which is not necessary for normal cell growth.