Attovia Therapeutics’ Post

We are excited to announce Deciduous Therapeutics as a Tier 3 Sponsor of the 11th Aging Research & Drug Discovery Meeting. Deciduous Therapeutics is a San Francisco based, venture backed start-up focused on harnessing the immune system to treat diseases of aging. Specifically, the company is focused on restoring natural killer t-cell function to systemically ablate pathological senescent cells. The company had demonstrated that a single dose of its proprietary NKT agonist is able to selectively remove senescent cells, resulting in disease resolution in both fibrosis and metabolic disease models. #ARDD2024 will feature a dynamic mix of academic institutions, clinicians, industry leaders, and pharmaceutical companies, fostering rich dialogues and unveiling new research in the field of aging. Mark your calendars for August 26-30, 2024 and register now at agingpharma.org https://lnkd.in/ggNnNTeh #ARDD2024 #DrugDiscovery #AgingResearch

Gene&Cell Therapy >> Breaking: AbbVie to acquire ImmunoGen for $10B in banner year for ADCs: AbbVie plans to acquire ImmunoGen for $10.1 billion, the companies said Thursday morning, in a deal that would expand the Big Pharma’s presence in the oncology field and mark an exit for the 42-year-old Boston biotech. The Chicago-area company will pay $31.26 per share in cash to get its hands on ImmunoGen’s oncology pipeline, which includes Elahere, the antibody-drug conjugate that’s approved for certain ovarian cancers. It’s the third-largest biopharma M&A deal of the year after Pfizer’s proposed $43 billion acquisition of ADC pioneer Seagen and Merck’s $10.8 billion buyout of immunology biotech Prometheus Biosciences. The move also marks yet another large deal in the ADC landscape — a hot niche of oncology drug R&D that seeks to make more powerful and targeted chemotherapies. The market has exploded with the success of Seagen, Daiichi Sankyo and other drugmakers. Merck recently bet $4 billion upfront on an ADC deal. Bristol Myers and Eli Lilly have announced they’re buying assets, and GSK, among others, is lining up pacts with other biotechs working on such treatments. Mark Enyedy ImmunoGen secured an accelerated nod for Elahere a year ago, and analysts have high expectations for the ADC, which almost didn’t make it after a failure in 2019 led to layoffs. TD Cowen last month estimated peak sales at about $2 billion, and AbbVie highlighted the “multi-billion-dollar” potential of the asset, which succeeded in a confirmatory study in May, in Thursday’s news release. ImmunoGen CEO Mark Enyedy pointed to the pharma giant’s global commercial, clinical and regulatory chops, noting “AbbVie is the right company to accelerate geographic and label expansion and realize the full potential” of Elahere. Shares of ImmunoGen $IMGN skyrocketed 81% before Thursday’s opening bell. AbbVie’s shares $ABBV were down less than 0.5% in premarket trading. Investors reacted warmly to other ADC biotechs, with Mersana $MRSN and ADC Therapeutics $ADCT up about 10%. Everybody wants an ADC AbbVie’s deal is somewhat of a surprise. CEO Rick Gonzalez recently told analysts the drugmaker had “everything that we need” in the area of ADCs, referring to its in-house programs. He had hinted that AbbVie’s business development team was more focused on next-gen CAR-T technology and immunology assets that could complement other treatments. The announcement comes a day after AbbVie said it would explore accelerated approval for its own ADC, telisotuzumab-vedotin, in certain non-small cell lung cancers. Earlier in the year, it had axed a few other ADCs in its pipeline. Beyond Elahere, AbbVie will also get a Phase II ADC called pivekimab sunirine, which targets CD123 for patients with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm, a rare blood cancer. The biotech… #lucidquest #genetherapy #celltherapy

We are delighted to provide our first business update since delisting from AIM earlier this year and continue our journey from a discovery to an immuno-inflammation therapeutics company. We're making important progress with our small molecule drug discovery portfolio in immuno-inflammatory diseases, focusing on areas with significant unmet need and commercial potential. Our lead oral a4b7 integrin inhibitor for inflammatory bowel disease is nearing pre-clinical candidate selection, with planning for IND-enabling studies well underway. And we announce two new pipeline programmes which are progressing towards Lead Optimisation, with first-in-class and best-in-class potential. Elsewhere we are applying our PatientSeek platform to define a genetic fingerprint as a predictive biomarker for a4b7 response that will allow us to specifically design our pivotal clinical trials for success. Read more here:  https://lnkd.in/dbBTEKZx #C4XD #immuno_inflammation #biotech #innovation 

LucidQuest Strategic Insights (lqventures.com) >>> Gene&Cell Therapy >> Roche makes ADC deal with China's MediLink Therapeutics for $50M upfront: Antibody-drug conjugates, one of the creams of the crop in 2023 biopharma dealmaking, are riding into 2024 on a strong note as Roche pays $50 million upfront to collaborate with a biotech in China, where many of the ADC deals have been made recently. The Swiss Big Pharma is pairing up with Suzhou-based MediLink Therapeutics, which teamed with BioNTech last fall for $70 million upfront and with Zai Lab last April for an undisclosed amount. In the new deal, Roche’s China Innovation Center will work with MediLink (also known as Suzhou Yilian Biopharmaceutical) on the c-Met-targeted ADC candidate dubbed YL211. They’ll work together on Phase I studies and then Roche will handle all other development and marketing globally, the companies said Tuesday. The tie-up starts with $50 million in upfront and near-term payments and could grow to nearly $1 billion over time, plus tiered royalties. The partners will test YL211, which is currently in the “clinical application stage,” in solid tumors, MediLink said. The biotech’s candidate goes after c-Met, part of the receptor tyrosine kinase family, which is also targeted by ADCs like AbbVie’s Teliso-V, for which the Big Pharma plans to request accelerated approval. You get an ADC, you get an ADC: Phar­mas bite on on­col­o­gy’s buzzi­est class Tuesday’s move comes amid a flurry of deals in the ADC space, with the most recent high-profile bid coming from AbbVie’s $10.1 billion acquisition of ImmunoGen, which is expected to close in the middle of this year. GSK, Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer, among others, all made multiple ADC splashes last year as they try to carve their place in the hottest area of oncology R&D, which seeks to create more powerful, but more precise, versions of chemotherapy. Although Roche markets two ADCs — Kadcyla for breast cancer and Polivy for hematology — its pipeline is relatively devoid of ADC candidates. The pharma giant has been busy inking acquisitions in the inflammatory and cardiometabolic spaces in recent months with its purchases of Telavant and Carmot. The latest deal marks a small departure from Roche’s previous stance on ADCs. In June 2022, then-CEO Severin Schwan told journalists that Roche had “rather limited interest” in the field, noting it was a packed space already, Reuters reported at the time. Thomas Schinecker replaced Schwan last year and presented an updated R&D road map last September, when the company said it was “exploring different modalities,” including ADCs, allogeneic CAR-T and other treatment types. Charlie Fuchs But Charlie Fuchs, Roche and Genentech’s global head of product development for oncology and hematology, noted that what makes ADCs “decidedly interesting” is that a… #lucidquest #genetherapy #celltherapy

LucidQuest Strategic Insights (lqventures.com) >>> Gene&Cell Therapy >> Breaking: AbbVie to acquire ImmunoGen for $10B in banner year for ADCs: AbbVie plans to acquire ImmunoGen for $10.1 billion, the companies said Thursday morning, in a deal that would expand the Big Pharma’s presence in the oncology field and mark an exit for the 42-year-old Boston biotech. The Chicago-area company will pay $31.26 per share in cash to get its hands on ImmunoGen’s oncology pipeline, which includes Elahere, the antibody-drug conjugate that’s approved for certain ovarian cancers. It’s the third-largest biopharma M&A deal of the year after Pfizer’s proposed $43 billion acquisition of ADC pioneer Seagen and Merck’s $10.8 billion buyout of immunology biotech Prometheus Biosciences. The move also marks yet another large deal in the ADC landscape — a hot niche of oncology drug R&D that seeks to make more powerful and targeted chemotherapies. The market has exploded with the success of Seagen, Daiichi Sankyo and other drugmakers. Merck recently bet $4 billion upfront on an ADC deal. Bristol Myers and Eli Lilly have announced they’re buying assets, and GSK, among others, is lining up pacts with other biotechs working on such treatments. Mark Enyedy ImmunoGen secured an accelerated nod for Elahere a year ago, and analysts have high expectations for the ADC, which almost didn’t make it after a failure in 2019 led to layoffs. TD Cowen last month estimated peak sales at about $2 billion, and AbbVie highlighted the “multi-billion-dollar” potential of the asset, which succeeded in a confirmatory study in May, in Thursday’s news release. ImmunoGen CEO Mark Enyedy pointed to the pharma giant’s global commercial, clinical and regulatory chops, noting “AbbVie is the right company to accelerate geographic and label expansion and realize the full potential” of Elahere. Shares of ImmunoGen $IMGN skyrocketed 81% before Thursday’s opening bell. AbbVie’s shares $ABBV were down less than 0.5% in premarket trading. Investors reacted warmly to other ADC biotechs, with Mersana $MRSN and ADC Therapeutics $ADCT up about 10%. Everybody wants an ADC AbbVie’s deal is somewhat of a surprise. CEO Rick Gonzalez recently told analysts the drugmaker had “everything that we need” in the area of ADCs, referring to its in-house programs. He had hinted that AbbVie’s business development team was more focused on next-gen CAR-T technology and immunology assets that could complement other treatments. The announcement comes a day after AbbVie said it would explore accelerated approval for its own ADC, telisotuzumab-vedotin, in certain non-small cell lung cancers. Earlier in the year, it had axed a few other ADCs in its pipeline. Beyond Elahere, AbbVie will also get a Phase II ADC called pivekimab sunirine, which targets CD123 for patients with blastic plasmacytoid… #lucidquest #genetherapy #celltherapy

Biogen Pays $1.15 Billion Upfront to Acquire HI-Bio Biogen announced this week that it is expanding its presence in the immunology space through a potential $1.8 billion deal to buy privately held biotech Human Immunology Biosciences, also known as HI-Bio. Under the terms of the agreement, Biogen will pay $1.15 billion upfront and pledge up to $650 million in potential milestone payments. The companies expect to complete the transaction in the third quarter of 2024, pending antitrust clearances and other customary closing conditions. At the center of the acquisition is HI-Bio’s lead candidate felzartamab, originally developed by Morphosys, which the biotech is developing as a treatment for IgA nephropathy (IgAN) and primary membranous nephropathy (PMN), as well as antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) in kidney transplant recipients. https://lnkd.in/dQTfqy2j #aspenalert #biotech #bioprocess

Gene&Cell Therapy >> Century Therapeutics buys Clade; Eliem announces $120M PIPE and a deal: Plus, news about Leap Therapeutics, Allay Therapeutics, Harmony Biosciences, Rallybio and CSL Behring: Century Therapeutics acquires Clade: Century is purchasing the off-the-shelf cell therapy startup for $35 million upfront in cash and stock in a deal that comes after Clade laid off employees and closed its Dutch subsidiary, as Endpoints News reported in February. Clade launched with $87 million in 2021 and was founded by CRISPR Therapeutics co-founder Chad Cowan. Century also announced that it’s expanding its lead iNK cell therapy into autoimmune disease, beginning with a form of lupus called SLE, and it raised $60 million from a private placement in light of the autoimmune expansion. — Lei Lei Wu Eliem acquires Tenet, plans to advance its lead drug: The company will now focus on TNT119, an anti-CD19 antibody designed to treat autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus. In conjunction with the buyout, Eliem raised $120 million in a PIPE financing, which likely gives the company runway into 2027. Most of Eliem’s board will remain, and Tenet CEO Stephen Thomas has been named interim CEO of the newly combined company. — Max Gelman Leap Therapeutics also announces a PIPE: The oncology biotech sold approximately $40 million in shares to institutional investors including Gilead, Samsara BioCapital, 683 Capital Partners, Laurion Capital Management and Rock Springs Capital. It plans to use the proceeds to fund its lead program, an anti-DKK1 antibody that it’s studying in second-line colorectal cancer. — Lei Lei Wu Allay Therapeutics’ pain drug sails through Ph2b: The biotech said ATX101 achieved sustained post-surgical pain relief for up to four weeks in patients following knee replacement. The non-opioid drug candidate also outperformed the standard of care — bupivacaine — in durability. Allay is planning to start a separate, registrational Phase 2b test later this year. — Ayisha Sharma Harmony Biosciences nabs license for OX2R agonist: Harmony will pay $25.5 million upfront to French pharma company Bioprojet to “develop, manufacture and commercialize” TPM-1116, per a press release. If everything works out, Harmony is also on the hook for up to $357.5 million in development and sales milestones. — Max Gelman MIT-founded DeepCure raises $24M: The company, which has put together about $72 million so far, is calling the raise a “Series A-1″ round. DeepCure researchers are working to develop new small-molecule drugs and identify new targets with the help of artificial intelligence. — Max Gelman Rallybio’s non-traditional deal with J&J: Johnson & Johnson is teaming up with Rallybio, which is developing a “complementary” treatment for a rare disease affecting fetuses and newborns. In addition to a $6.6 million equity… #lucidquest #genetherapy #celltherapy

Gene&Cell Therapy >> Idorsia’s Jean-Paul Clozel retires as CEO, plots next steps; CRISPR Therapeutics nabs CMO from Sanofi: Jean-Paul Clozel → Jean-Paul Clozel is ready to pass the torch at his Actelion follow-up Idorsia, but he doesn’t want to walk away from the company altogether. Clozel will retire as CEO on June 13, and Idorsia has tapped his longtime lieutenant André Muller to replace him. The 69-year-old Clozel will now stand for election as chairman, while Mathieu Simon moves into the vice chairman post. The changes on the board don’t stop there. Jörn Aldag, Felix Ehrat and Peter Kellogg are stepping down, and Idorsia has nominated ex-Galapagos president Bart Filius. “It has been an absolute privilege to serve as CEO of Actelion and Idorsia for the past 24 years. I can think of no greater endeavor than discovering new medicines that help patients lead better lives,” Clozel said in a statement. “Having devoted so much energy to Idorsia, I want to stay engaged and support the company to realize its potential.” Muller was CFO at Actelion and followed Clozel to Idorsia as finance chief after J&J bought Actelion for $30 billion in 2017. Muller had a 17-year career at Pierre Fabre, where he was CFO from 2002-11. Idorsia has notched two FDA approvals in its seven-year history: insomnia med Quviviq and high blood pressure drug Tryvio. Naimish Patel → CRISPR Therapeutics has found a new medical chief and promoted one of its execs. Naimish Patel takes over as CMO from PK Morrow, who resigned on Jan. 26 and joined Takeda as head of the oncology therapeutic area unit. Patel quickly moved up to global program head for the megablockbuster Dupixent early in his tenure at Sanofi, where he was recently the head of global development in immunology and inflammation. Vertex’s Casgevy partner has also elevated Julianne Bruno to COO. She left McKinsey for CRISPR in 2019 and had been SVP and head of programs & portfolio management since March 2023. → Bavarian Nordic will be looking for a CMO after Laurence de Moerlooze’s departure at the end of the month. The GSK and Takeda vaccines alum succeeded Chris Heery as medical chief in the spring of 2020. “We have an operational setup that is robust enough for people to continue doing their jobs until a replacement is in place,” Bavarian Nordic CEO Paul Chaplin told MedWatch about the search. “They can manage that for six months or more, so I have no concerns at all.” Hanneke Schuitemaker → Meanwhile, at another vaccine developer, Valneva has welcomed Hanneke Schuitemaker as CSO. As J&J’s global head of viral vaccine discovery and translational medicine, Schuitemaker was involved in the development of vaccine candidates for Covid-19, HIV, RSV, Ebola and more. Valneva overcame a nearly two-and-a-half-month delay and received an accelerated nod from the FDA last November for its… #lucidquest #genetherapy #celltherapy

Everything you missed in #Pharma & #Biotech 🦠🔬 ✅ Approvals FDA approves Amneal Pharmaceuticals’ Crexont, an extended-release formulation of levodopa-carbidopa for Parkinson's disease Servier's vorasidenib receives FDA approval for treating a specific type of brain tumor called IDH1 or IDH2-mutant glioma, marking the first USA approval for this condition FDA rejects Lykos Therapeutics' application for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, requesting additional studies to assess safety and efficacy 💸 Deals Exscientia and Recursion, two leading AI-driven biotech firms, to merge in a deal valued at $688 million, combining strengths in AI and drug discovery Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. Therapeutics secures $1.9 billion deal with Genentech, receiving $50 million upfront and exclusive rights to develop genomic neurodegenerative therapies Daiichi Sankyo and Merck enter global development and commercialization Agreement for MK-6070, an investigational delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3) targeting T-cell engager Merck to acquire an investigational bispecific antibody for B-cell-associated diseases from Curon Biopharmaceutical for $700 million upfront, enhancing pipeline in autoimmune and oncology Denmark's Pharmacosmos to acquire commercial-stage oncology company G1 Therapeutics, Inc. for $405 million Roche licenses technology from Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. Therapeutics through its Genentech arm to create genomic medicines for select neurodegenerative diseases L'Oréal acquires 10% stake in dermatology group Galderma 📈 Access The GBA announces amendments to its procedural rules to require early benefit assessments for all reimbursable drugs, including those without competitors, and allows use of off-label treatments as appropriate comparator therapies (ACTs) based on the actual care situation and recognized medical standards ✳️ Other BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. to focus its Roctavian (hemophilia gene therapy) plans on Germany and Italy (in addition to the USA) due to regulatory and logistical challenges 👉 What’s your favorite industry news? #pharma #biotech #pulsenews #curiousminds #techbio Hannah Kurth Patricia Machado Tamsin Lacourte Alexandra SILVAIN

Eliem Therapeutics, a biotechnology company, completed the acquisition of Tenet Medicines, a development-stage private biotechnology company. Financial terms were not disclosed. “Today marks a transformative milestone for Eliem Therapeutics as we strive to become a leading immunology and inflammation company focused on developing novel treatments for a broad range of autoimmune diseases. With the concurrent close of our $120m private placement, we now have a robust balance sheet with approximately $220m in cash and cash equivalents and are poised to advance the development of TNT119, our lead anti-CD19 antibody, through multiple milestones and for several autoimmune diseases. We look forward to initiating Phase 2 clinical trials of TNT119 later this year," Andrew Levin, Eliem Executive Chairman. Tenet Medicines (led by Stephen Thomas and William Bonificio) was advised by Cooley LLP (led by Ryan Sansom). Eliem Therapeutics (led by William Bonificio) was advised by Leerink Partners, WilmerHale and ICR Westwicke (led by Christopher Brinzey). #MergersAcquisitionsDivestitures #Healthcare #Biotechnology