Every Friday, The Leadership Edit looks at the people taking new roles across European biotech and what their moves may tell us about the companies they join. We’ll follow chief executives, scientific and medical leaders, and other appointments that mark a change in direction or a new stage of growth. For this first edition: a new CEO for Bavarian Nordic, launch preparations at Abivax and an AI push at ProQR.
Roche signed two research partnerships on Sept. 24: one with Atavistik Bio to discover drugs for cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases, and another with Earendil Labs to develop cancer antibodies. Together, the agreements have a potential value of more than $3.47 billion (€3.05 billion). Roche is paying $125 million (€110 million) upfront.
European biotech and clinical-research figures broadly agree with nine major drugmakers whose chairs signed a letter urging governments to reward new medicines better, but say the fixes go well beyond price.
Finnish biotech Kasvu Therapeutics has raised €30 million in Series A financing to take its lead depression candidate into clinical development, adding to a growing number of European investments in drugs targeting TrkB, a receptor involved in the brain’s ability to form and adapt neural connections.
Boehringer Ingelheim has expanded its partnership with Variant Bio into cardiovascular disease, adding potential payments exceeding $250 million (€219 million). The agreement builds on a kidney disease collaboration signed in January.
London-based Basecamp Research has raised $140 million (€122 million) in an oversubscribed Series C to expand its biological AI models and move a preclinical therapeutics pipeline toward the clinic. Its first focus is in vivo cell therapy.
German biotech ViferaXS has closed a Series A financing of up to €12 million, including grant funding, to advance its peptide-based cancer immunotherapy into a randomized Phase 2 trial in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
UK biotech Scarlet Therapeutics will lead a consortium developing red blood cells that can sense physiological changes and respond to them under a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program worth up to $14 million (€12.2 million).
Roche’s sefaxersen significantly reduced proteinuria in a Phase 3 IgA nephropathy (IgAN) trial, but the Swiss pharma stopped short of disclosing the size of the effect.
It’s been nearly a decade since the first CAR-T cancer cell therapy was approved by the FDA, offering a powerful and durable therapy against tumours. But when it comes to fighting solid tumours, CAR-Ts rapidly show their limits. A new generation of cancer cell therapies could set new standards and change the way we think about drug delivery in solid tumours.