Five months since Eli Lilly and Co.’s $2.4 billion buyout of Dice Therapeutics Inc. and its Delscape platform for oral small-molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interactions, Lilly rolled the dice again for novel PPI targets by partnering with Japanese biotech Prism Biolab Co. Ltd.
Buying out Immunogen Inc. in a whopper cash deal valued at about $10.1 billion, Abbvie Inc. has major plans for an expanded label on the antibody-drug conjugate Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx), already approved for treating platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
Companies have invested billions for decades to crack the problem of treating the deep complexities involving stromal cancers, Phenomic AI CEO Girish Aakalu told BioWorld. Now he and his company are on the receiving end as they enter a new collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH.
In a deal that could bring Avidity Biosciences Inc. $2.3 billion if all milestones are met, Bristol Myers Squibb Co. gained global rights to Avidity’s antibody oligonucleotide conjugates platform to advance up to five genetic cardiovascular targets. Avidity’s technology, which combines the specificity of monoclonal antibodies with the precision of oligonucleotide therapies, aims to address the root cause of diseases that are untreatable with current RNA therapeutics. Its lead internal programs are based on the targeted delivery of RNA into muscle.
Connect Biopharma Holdings Ltd. has been seeking a partner for its atopic dermatitis candidate rademikibart, and it appears to have found the perfect partner in Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, which gains exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize rademikibart in China in a deal worth $120 million plus royalties.
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH has acquired T3 Pharmaceuticals AG for CHF450 million (US$507.5 million) to gain access to a technology that uses live bacteria to deliver immune-modulating proteins to cancer cells and tumor microenvironments.
Freeline Therapeutics plc is being taken private by its founding investor and majority shareholder Syncona Ltd, in an all-cash transaction that values the Nasdaq-listed gene therapy specialist at $28.3 million. Syncona also will provide up to $15 million cash to keep Freeline afloat as it awaits the next tranche of data on its lead program FLT-201, which is positioned as a one-off treatment for the lysosomal storage disorder, Gaucher’s disease.
Connect Biopharma Holdings Ltd. has been seeking a partner for its atopic dermatitis candidate rademikibart, and it appears to have found the perfect partner in Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, which gains exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize rademikibart in China in a deal worth $120 million plus royalties.
Merck & Co. Inc. continued to broaden its reach in neurodegenerative diseases by paying, through a subsidiary, as much as $610 million to take over preclinical-stage Caraway Therapeutics Inc. The deal involves an undisclosed up-front payment along with contingent milestone rewards.
South Korean pharmaceutical Voronoi Inc. said that New Jersey-based Pyramid Biosciences Inc. terminated its previous $846 million deal for Voronoi’s solid and breast cancer drug candidate, VRN-08, in a letter dated Oct. 24, 2023.