French-Belgian biotech Osivax has reported disappointing Phase 2b results for its broad-spectrum influenza vaccine OVX836, which achieved a nonsignificant efficacy estimate of 24% against a predefined target of 50%. The company is now emphasizing a strategy to combine its candidate with existing seasonal flu vaccines.
Every Friday, The Leadership Edit follows people taking new roles across European biotech and what their moves may tell us about the companies they join. This week: a swift scientific leadership change at Evotec, a broader reshuffle at Sibylla and a new CEO to guide AL-S Pharma toward Phase 3.
U.K. microbiome company Microbiotica has raised £36 million (€43 million), the first close of a Series C round led by the British Business Bank, to take its ulcerative colitis drug MB310 into Phase 2.
Lakefront Biotherapeutics, formerly Galapagos, has sold five preclinical CAR-T assets to Belgian startup Armed Cell Therapeutics for €8 million upfront, while India’s Mankind Pharma has agreed to acquire 70% of the buyer for €48 million.
Oxford-based OMass Therapeutics has raised $310 million (€276 million) in a Series C financing to advance its small-molecule pipeline in endocrinology and immunology, including a potential treatment for congenital adrenal hyperplasia that will compete with drugs developed by Vertex and Neurocrine Biosciences.
BioNTech’s BNT113, combined with Keytruda, failed to significantly improve progression-free survival in a Phase 2/3 head and neck cancer trial. The study will continue to assess whether the combination helps patients live longer.
Zealand Pharma will pay Generate Biomedicines $30 million (€27 million) upfront to discover protein drugs for obesity and other metabolic diseases, broadening its pipeline beyond peptides and small molecules.
Beyond the main headlines, European biotech kept moving this week. Lundbeck and Neurosterix advanced neurological drug programs, Rewind secured funding for myelin repair, and Beactica selected a cancer degrader. Plus, new findings from iOnctura and Coave. Here’s your weekly catch-up.
Undecimal Bio has launched with $18 million (about €16 million) in seed funding to develop delivery molecules that carry gene-silencing medicines beyond the liver, initially targeting kidney and vascular tissues.
Roche has licensed worldwide rights to Rona Therapeutics’ experimental ALK7-targeting RNA interference therapy for obesity and metabolic diseases, offering up to $100 million (about €89 million) in upfront and near-term payments, plus up to $1.06 billion (about €0.95 billion) in milestone payments.