Few biotech pivots are as jarring as Genenta’s latest move.
The Milan-based company, which went public in late 2021 on the promise of a novel cell-based gene therapy platform, is now effectively abandoning the single-asset biotech playbook. Instead, it wants to become something far closer to a holding company for defense, aerospace, cybersecurity, and national-security assets, starting with a manufacturer of tactical rifles.
The transatlantic venture firm Epidarex Capital has reached a first close of more than $145 million (approximately €121.6 million) to focus on company creation and early-stage investments across the UK and the US.
Belgian investment company Gimv is drawing a clear line under one chapter of its history. The firm announced via a press release that it will stop making new investments in life sciences and instead focus on four core platforms: consumer, healthcare, smart industries and sustainable cities, alongside its long-term investment program Anchor. The board framed the move as part of a sharper focus on long-term priorities and growth opportunities linked to digital transformation.
At a strategy retreat of the city’s political leadership, the governing parties of the City of Vienna agreed to build a new Life Science Center for Vienna – with the new AI institute AITHYRA as its anchor tenant. To this end, funding of €170 million has been approved, allowing planning to begin.
Genmab has stopped enrolling patients in an early-stage clinical trial for an experimental cancer drug it gained through the acquisition of ProfoundBio in April 2024 for €1.52 billion. This pause underscores a broader reshaping of its oncology strategy.
UK biotech is heading into 2026 with a growing sense of momentum, even as the sector continues to navigate one of the most selective investment climates in years.
The U.K. biotech Ellipses Pharma, which develops cancer therapeutics, announced a collaboration and licensing agreement with China-based Innolake Biopharm Co. Ltd to develop a clinical-stage, first-in-class antibody–drug conjugate (ADC), EP0028, for solid tumors.
Unexpected changes at the top of Rentschler Biopharma: CEO Benedikt von Braunmühl and the Supervisory Board agreed on a swift separation in January, and COO Christiane Bardroff is also set to leave the biopharma manufacturer based in Laupheim, Baden-Württemberg, in the near future. The message from within the company: stay calm, it won´t knock us off course.
Four months after the FDA advised it against filing for approval of its lead melanoma vaccine, IO Biotech is preparing for further restructuring. The Copenhagen-based biotech said yesterday that it is exploring strategic alternatives, including a merger, asset sale, business combination, or potential liquidation, and warned that it may need to implement additional workforce reductions and cost-cutting measures as the process unfolds.
Infinitopes, a U.K. cancer vaccine biotech spun out of Cancer Research U.K. and the University of Oxford, has expanded its seed round to $35.1 million after a second close that added about $15.4 million to existing commitments. The financing was co-led by Octopus Ventures and new investor Amplify Bio. The company says the funds will support its upcoming first-in-human phase 1/2a VISTA trial of its lead therapeutic vaccine, ITOP1, aimed at reducing post-surgical recurrence in oesophageal cancer.
Photo of Sangharsh Lohakare from Unsplash 
ABA Austria
Genmab - Photo Credit: Andrei Jackamets
Rentschler Biopharma SE