Research & Development

Silverback Therapeutics raises $78.5m in oversubscribed Series B financing

Silverback Therapeutics (“Silverback”) (“the Company”), a private biopharmaceutical company pioneering a new class of immune-modulating ImmunoTAC drug conjugates targeting previously inaccessible disease pathways, today announced the close of an oversubscribed $78.5 million Series B financing round.

Brii Biosciences provides funding to Columbia University for research on COVID-19 and other coronaviruses

Brii Biosciences (“Brii Bio”) and Columbia University have entered into a memorandum of understanding through which Brii Bio will provide funding to support research to be conducted by investigators at the university and led by David Ho, M.D., founding scientific director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and professor of medicine at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Kuur Therapeutics launches to develop and commercialise off-the-shelf CAR-NKT cell therapies

Kuur Therapeutics announced the launch of its new business in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine and Baylor’s Center for Cell and Gene Therapy. Houston-based Kuur Therapeutics will advance the work of its predecessor, Cell Medica, to develop anti-cancer therapies using its innovative chimeric antigen receptor natural killer T cell (CAR-NKT) therapy platform.

Mount Sinai and Harbour BioMed collaborate to advance novel biotherapies to treat cancer and coronavirus COVID-19

Mount Sinai Health System and Harbour BioMed (HBM) have entered into a multi-year, multifaceted collaboration to develop novel, fully human antibodies for the treatment and prevention of various diseases including oncology and immunology.

Amunix raises $73m in Series A financing led by Omega Funds

Amunix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Amunix”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing prodrugs to bring the promise of potent immune-activating biotherapeutics to patients with solid tumor cancers, today announced the successful completion of an oversubscribed $73 million Series A financing.

Scientists from Merck and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research discover novel class of candidate anti malaria agents

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, today announced the publication of research on the discovery of a novel class of candidate antimalarial agents that block multiple stages of the lifecycle of the parasite that causes the disease.

Japan’s Takeda begins development of plasma-derived therapy for COVID-19

Japanese pharmaceutical firm Takeda has commenced the development of a plasma-derived therapy for COVID-19, a disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).

Iktos, SRI join forces for AI-driven drug discovery to combat COVID-19 and other viruses

Iktos, a French artificial intelligence (AI) start-up company, has joined forces with California-based research institute SRI International to accelerate discovery and development of therapies for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) and other viruses.

Akouos closes $105m Series B financing

Akouos, Inc. (“Akouos”), a precision genetic medicine company developing potential gene therapies to restore, improve or preserve hearing, today announced it has raised $105 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing.