investing
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Artificial Intelligence, BioPharma
Sanofi makes $270M bet that a startup’s AI tech can boost its cancer drug R&D
The sum represents Sanofi’s equity investment in Owkin, plus a payment to begin a research partnership covering four types of cancer. Meanwhile, Owkin said the Sanofi investment boosts the startup into unicorn status and marks the start of its Series B funding round.
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Artificial Intelligence, BioPharma
Generate Bio adds $370M for big push toward programmable protein medicines
Generate Biomedicines applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to protein analysis, which it uses to program its protein therapies for particular applications. The startup now has $370 million in financing to rapidly scale up operations, with a goal of reaching the clinic within two years.
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Aiming for on/off switch of genes, Chroma corrals $125M for new wave of medicines
Chroma Medicine is developing epigenetic therapies that turn genes on or off. The biotech startup has emerged from stealth mode backed by a $125 million Series A round of funding.
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Artificial Intelligence, BioPharma
‘Digitally native’ pharma Valo Health and Khosla scrap merger plan ahead of vote
Flagship Pioneering’s Valo Health and Khosla Ventures Acquisition Co. abandoned their SPAC merger on the eve of a scheduled shareholder vote on whether to approve the deal. The parties described the decision as mutual, and they cited “market conditions.”
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Artificial Intelligence, BioPharma
CRISPR-editing biotech Arbor Bio adds $215M for liver, CNS disease therapies
Arbor Biotechnologies raised new cash to keep up the pace in the chase for new genetic medicines. The MIT spinout applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to discover CRISPR enzymes applicable for gene-editing therapies; the Series B financing comes as programs in liver and central nervous system disorders move closer to human testing.
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Biologics manufacturing drives Evotec’s $435M U.S. stock market debut
Evotec is an old player in the life sciences, but in offering new shares on the Nasdaq, the Germany-based company plans to bolster its new biologics manufacturing capabilities in the U.S and Europe. In other stock market debuts, IO Biotech’s IPO raised $100 million as it prepares a pivotal test of its lead cancer immunotherapy.
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Already allied with Takeda, Egle raises €40M for its ‘starving’ immunotherapy
In less than two years, Egle Therapeutics launched, partnered with Takeda Pharmaceutical, and found its first cancer targets. Now the startup has €40M in Series A financing to further develop its new approach to modulating regulatory T cells as a way of treating autoimmune diseases and cancer.
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Trayt Health Seeks to Increase Access to Diagnoses and Treatments
CEO Malekeh Amini explains how Trayt Health can bridge the gap for patients seeking neurological care.
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ReCode Therapeutics gets $80M to deliver on new RNA therapies for the lungs
ReCode Therapeutics closed an $80 million Series B round of financing that included Pfizer and Sanofi as investors. The startup’s technology uses lipid nanoparticles to deliver genetic medicines, and its two lead programs are for rare lung disorders.
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Four big pharma companies team up in AI initiative focused on drug R&D
A new startup initiative in Israel aims to create and invest in startups that use artificial intelligence to address challenges in drug discovery and development. Called AION Labs, this innovation lab stems from an economic development effort from the Israeli government and will have contributions from AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer and Teva Pharmaceutical.
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Tentarix Bio unveils $50M for biologics with multiple functions, multiple targets
Biotech startup Tentarix Biotherapeutics has come out of stealth with $50 million and technology that develops biologic drugs endowed with multiple functions. The company aims to develop new multispecific biologic drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases.
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Exo Therapeutics adds $78M as cancer, inflammation drugs march toward clinic
Biotech startup Exo Therapeutics aims to overcome the challenges of drugging proteins by targeting exosites, locations that modulate enzyme activity. The company has four small molecule drug candidates for cancer and inflammation, and the company plans to use the $78 million in new financing to advance them toward human testing.
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Clinical trials vendor TrialSpark raises $156M to transform into a drug company
TrialSpark, a startup whose software manages various aspects of clinical trials, is becoming a drug developer. Led by CEO and cofounder Benjamine Liu, the company now plans to to acquire or partner on drug candidates, and to invest in biotech companies.