An experimental oral drug for early Alzheimer’s disease has produced positive Phase 1 results, including shifts in spinal-fluid markers of brain immune activity and neuronal stress in older volunteers toward levels seen in younger people, Danish biotech Muna Therapeutics reported. The drug, MNA-001, was also well tolerated, with no serious adverse events or adverse-event-related discontinuations reported.
Icelandic biotech Arctic Therapeutics has raised $21.5 million (€19.1 million) in an oversubscribed round to take two drug candidates for autoimmune disease toward the clinic.
Beyond the main headlines, European biotech kept moving this week. This edition of Meanwhile in Biotech covers cancer vaccine follow-up, changes to kidney and obesity trials, and two developments in AI-enabled drug discovery. Here are six updates worth catching up on.
British rare disease specialist Ambrose Healthcare has acquired Dutch biotech AM-Pharma for up to €161 million, adding an enzyme replacement therapy to its pipeline and a development base in Utrecht.
The Swiss pharmaceutical group has agreed to another, deeper ADC partnership with China’s Hansoh Pharma, with potential milestone payments exceeding $15 billion. The deal comes amid mixed developments: While China wants to do more to protect its biotech technologies from flowing abroad, Roche’s new investment decisions in Germany are on hold for now.
Merck KGaA is acquiring British biotech company Silence Therapeutics for $1.3 billion. The main value driver is an siRNA candidate for polycythemia vera. But the research platform and Berlin site are also part of the package. The deal is another sign that RNA interference is moving beyond a specialist technology into the broader pharmaceutical business. With a premium of 82% over the 30-day volume-weighted average share price, Merck is setting hearts racing in the siRNA community.
Following Fresenius’ launch of a €200 million healthcare venture fund in July, we invited Thomas Thestrup, managing director of Fresenius Ventures, to share his perspective in the Autumn issue of European Biotechnology. His argument: Europe has the innovation and the corporate investment expertise to compete globally, but needs more capital from its own healthcare companies to prevent the value created by European science from moving elsewhere. Here’s what he had to say:
French biotech OSE Immunotherapeutics has reported higher one-year survival rates with two combinations of its cancer vaccine Tedopi compared with chemotherapy alone in a Phase 2 lung cancer trial. However, the results are similar to those previously achieved with Tedopi alone, raising questions about the added benefit of combination treatment.
Each month, the European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee (CHMP) weighs in on which drugs should reach European patients — and which should not. Here are eight decisions from its October meeting worth knowing.
Swiss biotech Nouscom has raised €120 million in an oversubscribed Series D financing to advance NOUS-209, an experimental cancer vaccine designed to prevent tumors in people with Lynch syndrome, into a global registration-enabling clinical trial. Alongside the financing, the company has released new long-term clinical data showing encouraging signs of cancer prevention.