Revolution Medicines is acquiring EQRx in an all-stock deal bringing that company’s more than $1 billion in cash. It marks the end for EQRx, a company that aimed to develop and commercialize lower-cost drugs for cancer and other diseases.
SR One’s new investment fund is its second one since spinning out of GSK in 2020. The firm says it now has more than $1.5 billion in assets under management.
Executives from Imagine360, Verily, BrightInsight, Lantern, and Rhapsody shared their approaches to reducing healthcare costs and facilitating digital transformation.
Juvena Therapeutics is developing secreted protein drugs built on new knowledge gleaned from proprietary technology that maps these proteins and the tissues in the body where they offer a regenerative effect. The startup’s lead program is in development for the muscle disorder myotonic dystrophy type 1.
Nuvig Therapeutics is developing drugs that tap into one of the body’s natural mechanisms for controlling inflammation. Co-founder and CEO Pamela Conley, a veteran of Portola Pharmaceuticals, says Nuvig’s approach could offer efficacy similar to currently available autoimmune drugs but with a better safety profile.
The company is working on a voice assistant to lighten clinicians’ documentation burdens by automating some of that work. It faces competition from large companies like Nuance, which was acquired by Microsoft earlier this year.
Adverum Biotechnologies still doesn’t know if its experimental gene therapy caused eye problems reported in April in one patient in its diabetic macular edema study. But four others have since developed similar problems, and the company will no longer continue to develop the therapy for that indication.
As technology advances, AI-powered tools will increasingly reduce the administrative burdens on healthcare providers.
An intranasal Covid-19 vaccine candidate from Meissa Vaccines could offer advantages compared to injectable ones. The company is still in early clinical development but the company now has data from monkey studies that further build the case for the vaccine.
Adverum Biotechnologies reported that a diabetic macular edema patient treated with the biotech’s experimental gene therapy developed complications, including blindness, in the treated eye. The company has unmasked the study and is trying to identify potential risks to other patients.
In a phone interview, Guardant Health CEO Helmy Eltoukhy said he expected the approval to encourage coverage by those payers still on the sidelines.
The SoftBank Vision Fund led the round, which the company said would be used t expand its reach and support future clinical studies.
Closing cancer health equity gaps require medical breakthroughs made possible by new funding approaches.
Busy Burr, the founder of Humana Ventures, is joining digital health startup Carrot, which has developed a smoking cessation product. In September, another corporate VC, — Renee Ryan — formerly with J&J's venture arm, became CEO of digital neurology startup Cala Health.
Exo Imaging recently raised $35 million in a Series B round to transform the portable ultrasound market in which healthcare unicorn Butterfly Network has a head start.
The study, by US and Korean researchers, found Guardant360's detection of MSI-H/dMMR "highly concordant" with that of standard tissue biopsy, including in a subset of gastric cancer patients who responded to immunotherapy.
The company is targeting pathways such as SHP2 and KRAS G12C. RAS mutations have been an attractive target in oncology due to the central role they play in cancers.
The company's platform consists of a digital assessment to measure memory health and an associated program meant to drive better healthy behaviors and training exercises as a way to improve cognitive health.