Anavo Therapeutics BV, a new venture capital-backed company, has been launched in the Netherlands with seed capital of €20 million to investigate the development of drugs targeting phosphatases. Phosphatases are enzymes which, together with kinases, regulate the activity of signalling pathways in the body. But until recently, they have been largely unexplored as a target for therapeutics.
Roche reported a 1% decline in group sales, expressed in Swiss francs, in the first quarter as competition from biosimilar products eroded demand for the cancer drugs Avastin and Herceptin, and the rheumatoid arthritis drug Rituxan. By contrast, sales of diagnostic products, including tests for both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 applications, were strong.
Forbion Capital Partners has announced the final close of a new fund which will invest in late-stage European assets developing therapies for high medical need. The Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund I closed at €360 million, having only been launched in July 2020. Investors included Pantheon Ventures, the European Investment Fund, and Eli Lilly and Co, amongst others.
Johnson & Johnson Inc is to resume the rollout of its single dose vaccine for Covid-19 in Europe following guidance from the European Medicines Agency that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh its risks. Eight cases of unusual blood clots associated with low levels of blood platelets have been identified in the US, one of which was fatal. But set against this, are the more than seven million people who have received the vaccine without serious incident, officials from the EMA said on 20 April, following a safety review.
Opdivo (nivolumab), one of the earliest checkpoint inhibitors, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the first-line treatment of gastric cancer – the first immunotherapy for this indication. The approval also covers gastroesophageal junction cancer and oesophageal adenocarcinoma.
Merck & Co Inc is to discontinue development of a recombinant fusion protein for Covid-19 because additional studies would be needed to qualify it for an emergency use authorisation. Merck announced the decision on 15 April following feedback from the US Food and Drug Administration.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc has stopped two Phase 2 studies of the IgG4 monoclonal antibody feladilimab that was being investigated in patients with metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The company announced the discontinuation of the INDUCE-3 and INDUCE-4 trials on 14 April. This follows a recommendation by one of the trial’s independent data monitoring committees. The reasons were not given.
Alchemab Therapeutics Ltd of the UK has raised £60 million in a Series A round to advance a drug discovery platform that involves identifying naturally protective antibodies in individuals who show unexpected resistance to disease. The financing round was led by RA Capital Management, with participation from five other investors including SV Health Investors and the Dementia Discovery Fund.
UniQure NV has concluded an investigation of a patient who had a preliminary diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) whilst participating in the gene therapy trial HOPE-B for haemophilia. In a statement issued on 29 March, the company said “it is highly unlikely the HCC was caused by etranacogene dezaparvovec.” The company has shared the data with the US Food and Drug Administration, which put a clinical hold on the trial in December 2020.
Medigene AG has reported the discovery of novel immunogenic tumour specific antigens derived from the non-coding regions of the human genome. The German biotech company presented the finding at the virtual annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research on 10 April.