A new gene therapy company based in the Netherlands has raised €31 million in seed financing to advance a preclinical portfolio of potential treatments for muscular and neurodegenerative disorders. VectorY Therapeutics BV was launched in October 2020 to develop vectorised antibodies using an adeno-associated virus vector platform and antibody-based targeted degradation technologies.
Novo Holdings A/S, an investor in life science companies, has expanded its portfolio with the purchase on 15 June of a majority stake in BBI Group, a supplier of products and services to the global life science and diagnostics industries. The deal is valued at more than £400 million. Novo is buying the company from Exponent Private Equity LLP.
A Belgian start-up company with technology for targeting misfolded proteins closed a €18.3 million Series A financing round in early June. Amyl Therapeutics BV has a preclinical portfolio of therapeutics intended to treat amyloidosis, a group of diseases associated with the build-up of the abnormal amyloid protein in organs of the body. The targets of the company’s research are progressive peripheral and neurodegenerative rare diseases. The company did not identify the diseases by name.
The Swedish biotech Modus Therapeutics Holding AB has entered into a partnership with a team at Imperial College London, UK to investigate the compound sevuparin in patients with severe malaria. Modus is currently developing sevuparin for sepsis and septic shock, life-threatening conditions caused by the body’s reaction to an infection. The company has now extended its research to do more work in malaria.
Verona Pharma Plc has agreed to grant exclusive rights to Nuance Pharma Ltd of Shanghai, China for its respiratory treatment ensifentrine in exchange for an upfront payment of $25 million in cash and other considerations. The rights relate to the development and commercialisation of ensifentrine in mainland China and adjacent territories. Ensifentrine is an investigational therapy, currently in a global Phase 3 programme for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Late-stage clinical trials are currently underway at sites in the US, Europe and South Korea.
A new application for therapeutic RNA is being explored by the UK start-up company Transine Therapeutics Ltd. On 2 June, Transine announced receipt of an extended £9.1 million in seed financing. The funding round was co-led by Takeda Ventures Inc and the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), a specialist venture capital fund supported by private industry, charities, and the UK government.
The developer of a new antifungal agent designed as an inhaled therapy for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, has received $92 million in new capital. UK-based Pulmocide Ltd will use the Series C financing to carry out a Phase 3 registration trial for the drug PC945, which is a triazole antifungal agent.
Three industry associations have issued an appeal to the European Commission to exempt advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) from the EU’s genetically modified organism (GMO) legislation. This is to make the region more competitive as a site for clinical trials. The appeal was issued in a statement from the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine; the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations; and the European Association of Bioindustries. A paper was also published online on 24 May in the journal Human Gene Therapy.
Innovative Molecules GmbH of Germany has raised €20 million from a Series A financing round to progress a treatment for herpes simplex virus, a microbe that jumped from chimpanzees to humans more than 1.6 million years ago and now infects around two-thirds of the global population. There are two forms of the virus, type 1 and type 2, which can present either as cold sores on the mouth or blisters on the genitals. Once infected, an individual has the virus for life, though in many people it remains latent.
Aspirin has been eliminated as a possible treatment for patients hospitalised with Covid-19. This follows a large randomised clinical trial in the UK that assessed the effects of the compound on the survival of Covid-19 patients and their risk of developing a rare type of blood clot. Aspirin is widely used to reduce blood clotting in other diseases.