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The Mainz-based biotech company BioNTech is facing a historic leadership change as the minds behind the COVID-19 vaccine prepare for a fresh start. Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci plan to focus entirely on mRNA platform technology and will launch a spin-off at the end of the year.
Setback after earlier optimism: the Roche drug giredestrant has delivered mixed clinical data. Several clinical trials had suggested the drug could play an important role in the treatment of hormone-dependent breast tumours and potentially become a blockbuster for the company. Now, however, a key Phase III study has failed to meet its primary endpoint, even as regulatory submissions are already under way.
Roche and Zealand Pharma have delivered a clinically positive phase 2 readout for petrelintide, their amylin-based obesity drug, but the market reaction made clear that “positive” is no longer enough in the weight-loss race. After the companies reported that patients achieved up to 10.7% mean weight loss at 42 weeks, shares in both partners fell sharply as investors questioned whether the candidate can stand out in an increasingly crowded field.
Italian drugmaker Alfasigma has struck a licensing deal to take over global rights to linerixibat, GSK’s late-stage candidate for cholestatic pruritus in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), in a transaction that could be worth up to $690 million to the British pharma group. Under the agreement, GSK will receive $300 million upfront, with additional regulatory and commercial milestones plus tiered double-digit royalties on worldwide sales.
French pharma giant Servier is spending US$2.5bn to snap up Day One Biopharmaceuticals, gaining a key approved drug for difficult childhood brain tumours along with several promising pipeline candidates.
Paris-based kyron.bio has signed a strategic partnership with French pharma group Servier to glycoengineer an antibody selected by Servier. This agreement marks an early proof-of-concept deal designed to show the company can reliably “dial in” a specific, pre-defined N-glycoform on a therapeutic antibody.
The Zurich-based developer is increasingly focusing its pipeline on radiopharmaceutical cancer therapies. A recent development agreement with isotope specialist Eckert & Ziegler marks another step in that direction. The collaboration aims to develop and manufacture so-called Radio-DARPin therapeutics, in which targeted protein molecules deliver radioactive isotopes directly to tumours. Early clinical data on the DARPin molecules in combination with radioisotopes suggest targeted tumour localisation. Proof of efficacy, however, is still pending.
UCB is adding a new kind of immune-cell weapon to its immunology arsenal. The Belgian biopharma said it has struck a global licensing deal with Hong Kong–based Antengene for ATG-201, a CD19/CD3 bispecific T-cell engager (TCE) designed to deplete B cells; an approach that has long been validated in autoimmune disease, but is now being re-engineered with next-generation biologics that promise deeper, more durable effects.
French biotech OSE Immunotherapeutics is narrowing its ambitions to just two late-stage programs after a one–two hit: AbbVie backing away from an inflammation partnership and Boehringer Ingelheim halting the liver-disease leg of a separate collaboration following a mid-stage failure. The company now says it will concentrate resources on its cancer vaccine Tedopi and its IL-7 receptor antibody lusvertikimab, while pausing or ending several earlier-stage efforts to conserve cash and push toward near-term clinical catalysts.
Quantum computers? While most people have heard that their massively parallel data processing could open up an entirely new dimension of information technology, tangible real-world examples remain scarce. NVision Imaging Technologies in Ulm has been active in the field for years and has now developed a visible and practical innovation in metabolic imaging: real-time MRI. Leading academic institutions have already expressed strong interest.