Roche headquarters Basel

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.

ADC therapeutics

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.

Germany investment biotech

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.

Ona therapeutics series B

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.

Ingenix AI drug 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.

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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.

IMU bioscience fundraising

London-based IMU Biosciences has expanded its Series A financing to more than US$53m (£40m/€46m) in an oversubscribed round, as the company looks to scale its immune-profiling platform and move further into clinical applications.

ulcerative colitis abivax

Parisian Abivax shared positive topline results for its Phase 3 trial in ulcerative colitis. Its investigational oral, first-in-class miR-124 enhancer, dubbed obefazimod, met all primary and secondary endpoints, yet investors reacted negatively.

A restart from within: Molecular Health is becoming Lucera. After years of shifting corporate fortunes, a substantial part of Heidelberg-based Molecular Health is continuing in a new form. An investor consortium has acquired the company’s pharma technology business and relaunched it as Lucera GmbH. Dr Friedrich von Bohlen remains at the helm, while Dr Stephan Brock, the mind behind the Dataome data engine, also stays on board as CTO.