Drug Discovery

Ligand agrees to acquire core assets, partnered programmes and ion channel technologies from Icagen

Ligand Pharmaceuticals announces the signing of an agreement whereby Ligand will acquire the core assets of Icagen, Inc.’s North Carolina operations, including partnered programs, proprietary ion channel screening and assay platforms, x-ray fluorescence capabilities, custom screening technologies and novel unpartnered preclinical-stage molecules for $15 million in cash. Icagen will also be entitled to receive up to an additional $25 million of cash payments based on certain revenue achievements.

Valeritas announces agreement for Zealand Pharma to acquire business and retain employees

Valeritas Holdings announced an agreement to sell substantially all of the business to Zealand Pharma, a Denmark-based biotechnology company.

Roche’s gantenerumab fails to meet primary endpoint in AD trial

Roche’s investigational medicine gantenerumab has failed to achieve its primary endpoint in the Phase II/III Alzheimer’s disease (AD) trial.

Azafaros completes EUR25m Series A financing to advance rare metabolic disorders pipeline

Azafaros B.V. announced today the successful closing of its Series A financing round raising EUR 25 million (approximately USD 28 million).

ALK-Abelló and X-Chem announce drug discovery collaboration

X-Chem, Inc. (X-Chem), a privately held biotechnology company focused on applying its next-generation, industry-leading DNA-Encoded library (DEX) drug discovery platform to the generation of novel small molecule therapeutics, announced a drug discovery partnership with ALK-Abelló A/S (ALK), a Danish pharmaceutical company focused on the prevention and treatment of allergies.

Genprex to focus its clinical efforts on Oncoprex in combination therapy with Osimertinib for NSCLC

Genprex, a clinical-stage gene therapy company utilizing a unique, non-viral proprietary platform designed to deliver tumor suppressor genes to cancer cells, provides a clinical update and focus for its Oncoprex immunogene therapy program for 2020, prioritizing the development of Oncoprex in combination with osimertinib for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Aimmune secures licence to Xencor’s XmA 7195 to develop food allergy treatments

Aimmune Therapeutic has secured exclusive worldwide rights to Xencor’s XmAb 7195 for the development of next-generation food allergy treatments.

Regeneron to develop antibodies for novel coronavirus with HHS support

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has expanded its collaboration with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop antibody treatments for novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Bristol-Myers Squibb, BioMotiv launch new biotechnology firm Anteros Pharmaceuticals

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) and BioMotiv have launched a new biotechnology company, Anteros Pharmaceuticals, which will involve in the development of a new class of drugs for fibrotic and other inflammatory diseases.