Drug Discovery

CM Life Sciences II, SomaLogic and Twist Bioscience partner for novel antibodies

CM Life Sciences II and SomaLogic have collaborated with Twist Bioscience to discover novel therapeutic targets and antibodies.

Aurinia buys two pipeline assets to boost autoimmune and kidney diseases portfolio

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has bought two new pipeline assets to boost its rare autoimmune and kidney-related disease portfolio.

Gritstone signs funding deal with CEPI to develop Covid-19 vaccine programme

Gritstone bio and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) have signed a funding agreement to advance the development of the former’s second-generation Covid-19 vaccine programme (CORAL) against SARS-CoV-2 variants.

GentiBio raises $157m through Series A funding round

Biotherapeutics company GentiBio has raised $157m through a Series A funding round, which was led by Matrix Capital Management.

Bayer to acquire Vividion Therapeutic for $1.5bn

German pharmaceutical firm Bayer has agreed to acquire Vividion Therapeutic to strengthen its drug discovery capabilities.

Sanofi to acquire mRNA partner Translate Bio for $3.2bn

Sanofi has agreed to acquire a mRNA therapeutics firm Translate Bio to advance the use of messenger RNA (mRNA) technology across vaccines and therapeutics development.

Ipsen, Exicure to co-develop therapies for neurodegenerative diseases

Biopharmaceutical company Ipsen and Exicure have collaborated to research, develop, and commercialize novel Spherical Nucleic Acids (SNAs) as potential investigational therapies to treat Angelman syndrome and Huntington’s disease.

Takeda, Frazier to launch HilleVax for norovirus vaccine development

Takeda Pharmaceutical has announced collaboration with Frazier Healthcare Partners to launch HilleVax to develop and commercialise the former’s clinical stage norovirus vaccine candidate, HIL-214 (formerly TAK-214).

Deep Genomics raises $180m funding to expand AI platform for RNA therapies

Deep Genomics has raised $180m funding in Series C financing round to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) discovery platform for ‘Programmable’ RNA therapeutics and scale its portfolio into the clinic.