Two B7-H3-targeted antibody-drug conjugates licensed from Chinese biotechs have now delivered positive phase 3 survival data in relapsed small-cell lung cancer, strengthening the oncology bets GSK and Roche made in China.
BioNTech SENew data from the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Seoul are giving BioNTech’s oncology strategy more substance beyond its mRNA platform. Gotistobart has shown a marked survival benefit in previously treated squamous NSCLC, while the company’s leading bispecific antibody pumitamig continues to generate encouraging signals across tumor types and in combination with an antibody-drug conjugate. The key question now is whether these early signals can translate into registrational success.
Hanover-based Allogenetics has raised €3.8 million in a Pre-Series A round to advance ALG-115, an ex vivo gene therapy for donor lungs, through IND-enabling studies and toward a first-in-human trial planned for late 2027 or early 2028.
Simris Group is making amanitin-based ADCs the center of its strategy under former Heidelberg Pharma CEO Andreas Pahl — less than two months after hiring the executive who helped build Heidelberg Pharma’s own amanitin platform.
EthrisThe European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing German Ethris with €30 million to advance clinical development of its mRNA-based antiviral candidate ETH47. The Munich-based RNA specialist has been working on the approach for several years. The EIB financing also highlights a persistent challenge in pandemic preparedness: broad-spectrum antivirals may have substantial societal value, but their commercial market is difficult to predict.
CDMO company Northway Biotech has opened a €61 million cell therapy and personalized medicine center in Vilnius that is being qualified for GMP manufacturing, and the company says it expects a manufacturing authorization from Lithuania’s State Medicines Control Agency within six months.
The Barcelona-based biotech will use the financing to complete a 30-patient Phase 2a study of its lead candidate CTH120, with the first efficacy data expected in mid-2027.
Danish biotech Teitur Trophics completed its phase 1 study and said its experimental Parkinson’s disease treatment TT-P34 was safe and reached the central nervous system, supporting plans to move the peptide into phase 2 testing in 2027.
Dutch biotech Leyden Labs has reported positive Phase 1 results for intranasal RIG-101 and disclosed that it acquired the drug’s developer, RIGImmune, earlier this year.
Next-gen, effective payloads – from AI-designed small molecules to RNA-based therapeutics and gene therapies – have revolutionized medicine. Yet, the main hurdle remains targeted delivery: avoiding immune reactions (seen with many viral vectors) or undesired organ accumulation (evidenced with LNPs in the liver). Scientists are now harnessing a technology that could overcome these hurdles by using vesicles that cells naturally produce: exosomes.