Vertex Pharmaceuticals aims to use CRISPR Therapeutics’ gene-editing technology to develop type 1 diabetes cell therapies that don’t prompt the immune system to reject them. This approach could compete with a Sana Biotechnology program expected to reach its first test in humans this year.
Pear Therapeutics isn’t meeting the commercialization goals for its prescription digital therapeutics, so it’s now seeking strategic alternatives for the business. Prospective buyers can pick up Pear’s FDA-cleared products for substance use disorder, opioid use disorder, and insomnia.
In an era of escalating healthcare costs and a growing preference for natural, holistic approaches to health, The Impact Brands emerges as a collective of diverse brands dedicated to supporting overall wellness through natural means.
GV led Chroma Medicine's Series B financing round, which the biotech will apply toward epigenetic medicines that could offer advantages over other editing technologies. Other recent financings include rounds from Cargo Therapeutics and Transcend Therapeutics.
Hemab Therapeutics will apply its Series B financing toward clinical development of its lead drug candidate, a potential treatment for Glanzmann thrombasthenia. The capital will also support the rest its pipeline addressing rare bleeding and thrombotic diseases with no approved therapies.
Chiesi drug Lamzede is an engineered version of an enzyme that’s lacking in patients with the rare disease alpha-mannosidosis. FDA approval of the Chiesi drug comes about five years after European regulators authorized the product.
Karuna Therapeutics has licensed two small molecules that shuttering Goldfinch Bio had developed for kidney disorders. These compounds target a pathway that could also treat neurological disorders, giving clinical-stage Karuna the opportunity to compete against a drug candidate from Boehringer Ingelheim.
At the Payer Insights sessions on Day 1 of ViVE 2024, a panel on prior authorization offered compelling insights from speakers who shared the positive developments in this area after years of mounting frustration. Speakers also shared challenges as they work with providers to figure out how policy developments and technology will work in practice.
Elicio Therapeutics dipped its toe in the IPO waters but decided to go public by merging with publicly traded Angion Biomedica. Clinical-stage Elicio is developing immunotherapies, including cancer vaccines, that work by targeting immune cells located in the lymph nodes.
In rejecting Spectrum Pharmaceuticals drug poziotinib, the FDA said the biotech needs to generate more data from another clinical trial. Instead, Spectrum is turning the company’s focus to commercializing its recently approved product for treating a common cancer complication.
Ascidian Therapeutics is developing therapies for inherited disorders that work by editing RNA with an approach that could offer advantages over currently available genetic medicines. The biotech’s lead program is in preclinical development for Stargardt disease, a rare eye disorder caused by multiple genetic mutations.
Merck is paying $25 million to kick off a research partnership with Cerevance, a startup that analyzes donor brain tissue to find novel targets for new neurological disorder drugs. While Cerevance’s lead program is a Parkinson’s disease drug, Merck wants to see if the startup’s technology can help it discover and develop new Alzheimer’s disease drugs.
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Pear Therapeutics is implementing a corporate restructuring projected to save about $28 million. The goal is to extend its available cash as the company presses on with commercialization efforts for its digital therapeutics.
Technological advances are moving drug discovery work to computers, but experimental medicines still must be tested in animals. Startup Manifold Bio is developing technology that enables the testing of hundreds of molecules in a single mouse, bringing drug hunters valuable in vivo data much earlier in the drug discovery process.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals already has a cell therapy candidate for type 1 diabetes but the company says acquiring rival ViaCyte will provide it with complementary assets and technologies. The two companies already share a partner in common: both have therapeutic candidates that use the gene-editing capabilities of CRISPR Therapeutics.
Two private equity firms have reached an $890 million deal to buy Radius Health, a company whose main asset is the commercialized osteoporosis drug Tymlos. In other M&A news, cancer biotech F-star Therapeutics is being acquired in a $161 million deal.
Cell and gene therapy research has been hot the past few years but the overall market has cooled down in recent months. During the World Medical Innovation Forum in Boston, a panel of venture capitalists discussed capital formation and what biotech firms need to do to win over investors and advance their research.