Novartis is paying China’s Abogen Biosciences $575 million (€512 million) upfront for global rights to ABO2203, an experimental treatment that uses mRNA to make a B-cell-depleting drug inside the patient’s body.
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: an immediate CEO change at Pharming, a scientific leadership vacancy at Evotec and a new finance chief at Nanobiotix.
Amsterdam-based Amplio Pharma has reported early clinical evidence that its experimental treatment NovoBioJect boosts the active form of methotrexate inside immune cells. The company is seeking about €10 million to test whether the approach improves disease control in rheumatoid arthritis.
GSK has selected a liver disease drug candidate from its collaboration with Wave Life Sciences for further development, triggering a $12 million (€11 million) milestone payment to the U.S.-based biotech.
Spain’s Highlight Therapeutics reported that its lead candidate, BO-112, met its Phase 2b endpoint in localized basal cell carcinoma, with 61% of evaluable patients achieving a response.
Boehringer Ingelheim’s survodutide delivered average weight loss of up to 13.1% in a Phase 3 trial involving people with overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes, but gastrointestinal side effects caused 18% of patients receiving the drug to stop treatment.
Sanofi will pay Regeneron Pharmaceuticals $1 billion upfront (€0.9 billion) to expand the alliance that led to the blockbuster Dupixent with four antibody candidates designed to work longer between doses.
Swedish biotech Atrogi says its oral drug ATR-258 increased lower-extremity muscle power by about 13% after eight weeks in a study of 13 people with overweight or obesity. Participants also lost an average of 1.1 kg of fat mass and gained 0.8 kg of lean mass.
Immunic is preparing to transition from a late-stage development biotechnology company into a fully integrated commercial organization focused on multiple sclerosis (MS). At the center of its strategy is vidofludimus calcium, an oral therapy being developed for relapsing and progressive MS. European Biotech spoke with Immunic’s CEO Erik Lundgren about the company’s clinical trials and commercial ambitions, the role of neuroprotection and why he believes the next major opportunity in MS may lie beyond relapse control.
AstraZeneca has agreed to invest $2 billion (€1.8 billion) in Summit Therapeutics and test its cancer drug ivonescimab alongside the British pharma’s antibody-drug conjugates.