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.
Boehringer Ingelheim has partnered with New York-based Envisagenics to hunt for new targets in hard-to-treat solid tumors, opening up more than $1 billion (€873 million) in potential payments.