AI has transformed drug discovery, but the “AI biotech” label has become increasingly misleading. Kurma Partners proposes an investment framework that distinguishes three fundamentally different models — each building a different asset, creating value in a different way and requiring a different investment lens.
France’s WhiteLab Genomics has raised $26 million (€23 million) in Series B financing to expand experimental validation of its AI-designed gene delivery technologies and build a portfolio of assets it can own and license.
If you ask founders what determines whether they raise capital, most will give you the same answer: great science, compelling clinical data, a large market opportunity and a sensible valuation. For a long time, I would have given exactly the same answer, but I no longer do. After years of working with biotechnology companies, I have come to believe that those factors determine whether a company deserves investment, but they do not necessarily determine whether it gets the opportunity to be evaluated in the first place. Here’s why.
Australian biopharma company CSL has entered an exclusive global partnership with Basel-based Alentis Therapeutics to co-develop and co-commercialize lixudebart, an investigational antibody targeting claudin-1. CSL will pay Alentis $355 million upfront and the Swiss biotech is eligible for up to another $1.2 billion in commercial milestone payments. Once the drug reaches the market, global profits will be split 55% to CSL and 45% to Alentis. What is the deal all about?
Genmab’s rinatabart sesutecan (Rina-S) delivered durable responses in a Phase 2 trial in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, providing encouraging validation for the centerpiece of its $1.8 billion acquisition of ProfoundBio.
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.
Alentis Therapeutics