Portuguese drugmaker BIAL has discontinued development of BIA 28-6156, also known as pariceract, after a Phase IIb study failed to show that the oral therapy could slow progression in patients with GBA-associated Parkinson’s disease. The readout marks a setback for one of the more advanced attempts to turn Parkinson’s genetics into a disease-modifying therapy.
London-based Engitix Ltd has entered a strategic research collaboration and option agreement with GSK to discover and validate new therapeutic targets for liver fibrosis regression, adding another pharma partnership to its extracellular matrix-driven drug discovery platform.
Secarna Pharmaceuticals is redefining the discovery and development of oligonucleotide therapeutics to address hard-to-treat disorders. The Company is planning to raise a Series A to advance its lead oncology asset, SECN-15, into Phase 1/2. Secarna is supported by global partnerships that validate their expertise and accelerate development.
Swiss pharma giant Roche has signed a global licensing and collaboration agreement with US biotech Nurix Therapeutics to co-develop and co-commercialise bexobrutideg, an oral Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) degrader being developed for B-cell malignancies and potentially for immunology and neurology indications.
Swiss ADC specialist ADC Therapeutics has reported a statistically positive Phase III result for Zynlonta in relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, but a higher rate of fatal adverse events in the experimental arm has overshadowed the efficacy readout and triggered a sharp investor backlash.
Dr Ralf Otto, a former manager at Boehringer Ingelheim and Rentschler, has been appointed as the new Chief Operating Officer of the Polish company Rezon Bio.
The announcements came almost simultaneously and send a clear signal to policymakers and the industry: both US pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly and German-based Boehringer Ingelheim are calling planned investments in Germany into question, citing the country’s healthcare policy framework.
Barcelona-based Ona Therapeutics has raised US$86.6m in a Series B financing to advance a new generation of antibody-drug conjugates into clinical development.
Warsaw-based AI biology company Ingenix has raised €13m in a seed-extension financing round led by Sofinnova Partners, with participation from Inovo VC and OTB VC.
3PBIOVIAN has added an additional 2,000-liter single-use bioreactor for mammalian cell culture, further strengthening its industrial capacity and reinforcing its value proposition as a CDMO partner for the development and manufacturing of recombinant proteins.
Engitix
Secarna
Rezon Bio