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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Troubled Cytokinetics' stock soars as gets much needed phase 2 heart drug trial win, plans late-stage effort by year’s end

Topline midstage data out of Cytokinetics, under pressure to perform after losing a Big Pharma partner and after recent setbacks, is good enough for the biotech to kickstart a phase 3 later this year.

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Top Stories

3-peat Friday: Castle Creek, Eliem and Adagio pile on to biotech IPO frenzy

Skin disease biotech Castle Creek Biosciences and clinical-stage COVID-19 antibody maker Adagio Therapeutics both filed for customary $100 million IPOs on Friday; meanwhile, central nervous system-focused Eliem Therapeutics wants at least $80 million in its Nasdaq debut.

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Merck oncology exec Haining pulls the trigger and goes full time at cell therapy player ArsenalBio

Dr. Nicholas Haining left academia in 2018 to lead discovery oncology and immunology at Merck. Now, he’s hopping from pharma to biotech, joining ArsenalBio, a cell therapy company he co-founded, as chief scientific officer. He arrives six months after the company struck a discovery deal with Bristol Myers Squibb.

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AstraZeneca hands off rights to pneumonia prevention medicine for $11M upfront, but keeps a toe in the game

AstraZeneca is offloading a pneumonia prevention medicine to Aridis Pharmaceuticals through a worldwide licensing deal, which will net the Big Pharma $11 million in cash and a further $115 million down the line. Usually, these deals go the other way around, with a major company picking up rights to a smaller biotech’s candidate, but in this case, the U.K. drugmaker is the one passing on an asset.

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Adagio seeks IPO to bring COVID-19 antibody to market in 2022

Adagio Therapeutics has filed to raise money to bring its COVID-19 antibody to market in an initial public offering. The IPO will support phase 2/3 clinical trials that Tillman Gerngross’ Adagio is running to position ADG20 for use in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19.

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Rome, backed by Arch and GV, hires science leaders to hit targets in “junk DNA”

Rome Therapeutics has appointed David Proia, Menachem Fromer and Sarah Knutson to its scientific leadership team. The trio join the Fierce 15 winner as it strives to develop cancer and autoimmune drugs against targets found in noncoding regions of the genome.

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Don't forget to nominate 2021's fiercest women in life sciences

There’s still time to send us your nominations for this year’s Fiercest Women in Life Sciences! We’re looking for women in biotech, pharma and medtech who, in spite of challenges both unique to the industry and to being female, stand out as leaders, innovators and mentors. Submissions close Monday, Aug. 2.

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Digital health dollars hit $15B high driven by telehealth investment in 2021

Global venture capital funding for digital health companies hit a $15 billion high in the first half of 2021, driven in large part by telehealth investment.

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CDC director: COVID-19 morphing into ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’ as cases spike by 70%

COVID-19 cases are up nearly 70% and reaching 30,000 infections per day primarily due to low vaccination rates in some parts of the country, according to the CDC.

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2 pathways that prepare and kill melanoma cells could inspire novel anti-cancer drugs

Researchers at Ludwig Maximilians-Universität found one druggable pathway that prepares melanoma cells for death, and a second that delivers the sucker punch, killing the cells. One of the pathways is already being targeted by Merck for treating solid tumors, and the finding could lead to novel treatments, the researchers said.

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Gelesis to take its stomach-filling weight loss capsule public in $1.3B SPAC merger

Gelesis’ flagship technology may be designed to help people slim down, but the device maker itself is doing anything but. Instead the companys plans to significantly bulk up its market standing and valuation with the help of a proposed reverse merger with a SPAC deal.

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From masking to vaccines, Ad Council corrals feds, brands and media into COVID-19 campaigns

Many of the ads promoting mask-wearing, social-distancing and vaccinations during the coronavirus pandemic have had one thing in common—the Ad Council. Working with HHS, CDC and two White House administrations, along with hundreds of brands and media partners, the nonprofit marketing agency has been the COVID-19 marketing glue.

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Resources

Whitepaper: To De-Risk Your Next Trial, Seek Outside Expertise

Engage Independent Expert Endpoint Adjudication and Data Monitoring Committees in a strategic manner to identify methods for retrospective and prospective evaluations that may improve competitive advantage and bolster regulatory submissions.

Whitepaper: Strategies for mitigating supply chain risk in clinical trials

Take a closer look at your supply chain to ensure it delivers with speed, efficiency, and quality — all within budget.

Whitepaper: Evaluating current manufacturing platforms for recombinant AAV production

Choose the right AAV platform for your viral vector-based therapy

E-Book: Digital Therapeutics 101

E-book to get newcomers “up to speed” quickly on digital health and digital therapeutics while also addressing key issues important to those already familiar with the topic.

Content Hub: Process Intensification Resource Center

A one-stop hub for Cytiva resources to support process intesification

Content Hub: Remarque Systems Resource Hub

Remarque Systems consolidates data, then layers on visualization and automated metrics to generate consistent, actionable data insights in real-time. Click here for more info. 

eBrief: Drug Product Process Development: Ensuring a Consistent, High-quality Biologic

Learn about drug product process development challenges and risks, the difference between innovator and biosimilar drug product process development, and more during the drug product process development phase.

Whitepaper: Achieving a Successful Drug Product Technology Transfer

Get insights on key considerations for a successful tech transfer process for manufacturing a biologic drug product, including a case study on overcoming challenges in a process transfer for a sterile diluent.

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