KalVista Pharmaceuticals brings to Chiesi Group the product Ekterly, the first FDA-approved oral drug for acute treatment of swelling attacks from the rare disease hereditary angioedema. Ekterly’s tablet formulation offers a dosing edge compared to injectable HAE medications.
Tortugas Neurosciences’ two lead programs are in-licensed oral small molecules in development for schizophrenia and tinnitus. The startup is led by veterans of Sage Therapeutics, a neuroscience biotech that was acquired last year.
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Kelonia Therapeutics brings to Eli Lilly an in vivo cell therapy in early clinical development for multiple myeloma. The deal complements Lilly’s acquisitions of Verve Therapeutics and Orna Therapeutics in the past year, each taking different approaches to developing in vivo genetic medicines.
Obsidian Therapeutics aims to show its TIL cell therapy has advantages over an Iovance Biotherapeutics TIL therapy marketed for treating melanoma. Obsidian’s merger with Galera Therapeutics will give it a public listing and a private placement to support clinical development of the combined company’s cancer drug pipeline.
Eli Lilly is paying up to $300 million for CrossBridge Bio, a startup developing antibody drug conjugates that deliver two drug payloads to cancers. Beyond potentially better efficacy, CrossBio’s dual approach could also fight drug resistance.
Sidewinder Therapeutics and Stipple Bio each raised mega-rounds of financing to support their approaches to improving the targeting abilities of antibody drug conjugates for cancer. Both startups are on track to enter the clinic next year.
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Gilead Sciences exercised its option to license a Kymera Therapeutics’ protein-degrading drug designed to eliminate the cancer-driving protein CDK2. Meanwhile, Roche’s new partnership with C4 Therapeutics is focused on developing degrader antibody drug conjugates for undisclosed cancer targets.
Gilead Sciences’ Tubulis acquisition brings antibody drug conjugates in clinical development for cancer. Analysts say the Tubulis platform technologies that yielded these ADCs could also help Gilead develop drugs in other therapeutic areas.
Biogen’s Apellis Pharmaceuticals acquisition comes nearly two years after the drugmaker purchased immunology startup Human Immunology Biosciences. CEO Chris Viehbacher said Apellis accelerates Biogen’s expansion in nephrology, supporting a HI-Bio drug currently in pivotal testing for three kidney conditions.
Centessa Pharmaceuticals’ cleminorexton is part of the orexin agonist drug class, which could introduce a new approach to the treatment of narcolepsy and other sleep disorders. Acquiring Centessa brings Eli Lilly into a group of clinical-stage orexin agonist drug developers that includes Takeda Pharmaceutical, Alkermes, and Eisai.
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Gilead Sciences is acquiring Ouro Medicines, a startup developing T cell engagers for a range of autoimmune diseases. Separately, Gilead is negotiating a deal with Galapagos to share in the development and potential commercialization of the Ouro drug.
Novartis already markets the PI3Kα inhibitor Piqray for breast cancer, but acquiring a Synnovation Therapeutics subsidiary brings an early clinical program that the pharma company claims could be best in the class of next-generation therapies for the target. Competitors include Eli Lilly, Relay Therapeutics, and OnKure Therapeutics.
Waiv, formerly the diagnostics division of AI biotech Owkin, developed AI-enabled testing technologies that found use in clinical settings and in cancer drug research. Spinning out as an independent company enables Waiv to pursue its own growth strategy, co-founder and CEO Meriem Sefta said.
Day One Biopharmaceuticals is Servier’s biggest acquisition yet, topping the $2.4 billion it paid to buy Shire’s cancer business in 2018. Day One markets Ojemda, approved for treating pediatric low-grade glioma, the most common type of brain cancer in children.
Boehringer Ingelheim receives rights to oral small molecules from Sitryx with potential applications in multiple autoimmune disorders. Depending on the progress of Boehringer’s research, Sitryx could receive more than $500 million.