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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

Gilead-partnered Teneobio and its next-gen cancer work snapped up by Amgen for $2.5B

Just two months after getting a swift approval for its closely watched KRAS lung cancer drug Lumakras, Amgen is not resting on its laurels and has penned a major new buyout deal to further boost its oncology pipeline.

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Top Stories

Takeda reveals potential $3.5B value of central nervous system deep dive with PeptiDream

About eight months after originally teaming up on neuromuscular diseases, Takeda and PeptiDream have expanded the pact to include several central nervous system targets, while revealing the tie-up could be worth more than $3.5 billion. The collaborative research and exclusive license agreement inked in December didn't have a price tag, but the two companies revealed the eye-popping figure Tuesday.

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Pfizer dumps mid-phase NASH prospect, slew of early efforts in Q2 clearout

Pfizer has removed a non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) liver disease prospect from its pipeline after wrapping up a phase 2 clinical trial. The ketohexokinase inhibitor PF-06835919 is the latest in a series of NASH prospects that Pfizer has culled from its clinical pipeline.

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Sponsored: Medical Cannabis from Colombia Can Change Lives

Medical cannabis from Colombia can change lives.

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GSK culls phase 2 RSV vaccine in kids, as feladilimab flops again in lung cancer

GlaxoSmithKline is shutting down development of a vaccine to prevent respiratory syncytial virus in infants after early stage studies showed it did not protect against the common condition that can become severe in some children. 

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Enyo Pharma's NASH results show boost in kidney function, differentiating vonafexor from busy field

Enyo Pharma’s liver disease drug reduced liver fat and boosted kidney health during a mid-stage clinical trial, meeting its main and secondary goals while supporting the design of next stage pivotal studies. Vonafexor, also known as EYP001, is being trialed in patients with non alcoholic steato-hepatitis.

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Arena taps Aristea in $70M inflammation deal, secures buyout option

Arena Pharmaceuticals is ponying up $60 million upfront and investing $10 million in Aristea Therapeutics to collaborate on the latter’s inflammatory disease program and snag the option to acquire its partner. Arena also chipped into Aristea’s $63 million series B round, led by Fidelity Management & Research Company.

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Ring Therapeutics calls in a whopping $117M series B for gene therapies

Ring Therapeutics raked in $117 million in series B funds to take its new vector platform, which has identified thousands of newly discovered anello-based vector candidates, to the next stage for gene therapy and precision medicine.

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Candel reels in downsized $72M IPO to get cancer-killing viruses through the clinic

Like many a biotech company in 2021, Candel Therapeutics filed to raise up to $100 million in its IPO. But unlike several of its peers, which outraised that initial figure by two- or even threefold, the oncolytic virus player downsized its deal, eventually reeling in $72 million.

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Ipsen pens early-stage, $14.5M programmed cell death cancer deal with BAKX Therapeutics

Cancer cells multiply out of control because they're able to escape a mechanism known as programmed cell death: Ipsen is now penning a new pact to help try and put this barrier back up. The pharma is stumping up a small $14.5 million upfront to little-known BAKX Therapeutics.

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Novartis fine-tunes gene therapy candidates with a drug that acts as a 'dimmer switch'

Novartis has licensed a technology that uses its investigational RNA splicing modulator branaplam as a modulator of gene therapy. The "dimmer switch," developed at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, could fine-tune levels of proteins expressed by gene therapies, improving a wide range of treatments, the researchers said.

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Pfizer now expects COVID vaccine sales to reach $33.5B this year, a whopping $7.5B bump from its estimate 3 months ago

In its second quarter earnings report, Pfizer bumped it estimate for 2021 sales of its BioNTech-partnered COVID-19 vaccine up to $33.5 billion, an increase of $7.5 billion from its first-quarter estimate.

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CDC brings back mask recommendation for vaccinated people in areas with high COVID-19 spread

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance on Tuesday to reflect the new data and increasing spread of the more transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19.

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'I don't like it:' Biogen's latest Alzheimer's ad rouses fresh Aduhelm concerns—and some defense

Biogen's latest marketing push focusing on early Alzheimer's detection—just weeks after the FDA narrowed Aduhelm's label—is rousing criticism among some experts who say the company is trying to cause undue concerns over mild cognitive impairment. However, some acknowledge that diagnosing cognitive impairment early on isn't easy.

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MedRhythms hits a high note with $25M for music-based stroke, Parkinson’s, MS treatment

As a rare digital therapeutics company using a music-based system to treat neurological diseases, MedRhythms certainly marches to the beat of its own drum. It’s hoping a similar strategy will work to improve movement in patients with chronic stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and more.

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Resources

eBook: Get solutions to market faster

Read Get to Know Cloud Content Management for Life Sciences and learn how to eliminate silos across all workflows, from R&D to commercialization.

Content Hub: Post-Marketing Safety Studies

Learn about key post-marketing safety study solutions, including registries and REMS, and how they can most effectively help meet regulatory requirements and maximize patient access.

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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