Biotech’s biggest opportunity is not simply to generate more compounds faster, but to improve the biological hypotheses behind them and help focused companies turn shared datasets, better models and deep disease expertise into drugs more likely to work in patients.
Roche drops two Huntington’s programmes from Ionis
Latest NewsRoche has discontinued two Huntington’s disease programmes after its Ionis-partnered drug tominersen failed to improve patients’ symptoms and a separate candidate raised concerns in animal studies.
AstraZeneca and Ionis miss in key ATTR-CM trial
Latest NewsAstraZeneca and Ionis have suffered a major late-stage setback after Wainua/Wainzua (eplontersen) failed to hit the primary endpoint in a phase 3 trial in transthyretin-mediated amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), denting hopes that the RNA-targeted therapy could compete in one of cardiology’s fastest-growing rare disease markets.
GSK ends Alector neuroscience deal after trial failures
Latest NewsGSK has pulled out of its neuroscience collaboration with Alector, ending a 2021 alliance that began with a $700m upfront payment but has since been hit by two clinical setbacks.
Alchemab extends Series A with £25m from British Business Bank
Latest NewsCambridge-based Alchemab Therapeutics has added £25m (€29m) to its Series A financing, taking the round to £109m (€128m) and giving the UK biotech fresh capital to advance its AI-enabled antibody pipeline.
AZ buys ex-China rights to Sino’s COPD drug for $2.1bn
Latest NewsAstraZeneca has moved to strengthen its respiratory pipeline with a late-stage Chinese COPD asset, striking a deal that gives it a lower-cost shot at a market MSD recently entered through its $10bn Verona Pharma acquisition.
Boehringer licenses PVT virus platform for cancer vaccines
Latest NewsBoehringer Ingelheim has licensed oncology rights to Prime Vector Technologies’ (PVT) Orf virus platform to develop a new generation of cancer vaccines.
Graph Therapeutics raises $5m to advance I&I pipeline
Latest NewsAustria’s Graph Therapeutics has raised $5m in new financing, bringing its total funding to more than $10m as it advances internal drug discovery programmes in inflammation and immunology built on its AI-enabled platform.
New CFO to Drive Commercial Growth
AppointmentsSwedish life science company PeptiSystems has appointed Ida Nordberg as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The appointment marks another milestone in the company’s development and further strengthens the organization as it enters its next phase of commercialization and international expansion
EG 427 rebrands as Cyllene and cashes in €33m Series C
Latest NewsFrench gene therapy biotech EG 427 has rebranded as Cyllene Therapeutics and raised €33m in a Series C round to push its lead neuro-urology candidate EG110A toward late-stage clinical testing.
Where will AI actually move the needle in drug discovery?
Latest News, OpinionBiotech’s biggest opportunity is not simply to generate more compounds faster, but to improve the biological hypotheses behind them and help focused companies turn shared datasets, better models and deep disease expertise into drugs more likely to work in patients.