VLS-1488

Plus, news about uniQure, MBX Biosciences, KalVista, Volastra, Basilea Pharmaceutica, Gossamer Bio, Respira Therapeutics, Sanofi, Immuneering and Heidelberg Pharma: 🫀 Kardigan reveals its pipeline: The cardiovascular biotech has in-licensed three clinical-stage assets for undisclosed terms, including Ionis’ tonlamarsen and Sanofi’s ataciguat , according to past Endpoints News reports. Kardigan is now saying it also got the exclusive worldwide rights to danicamtiv, which was discovered by MyoKardia, the cardio company acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb. Tassos Gianakakos, who is Kardigan’s CEO, previously was the chief executive of MyoKardia, steering the company to a $13 billion exit in 2020. Kardigan emerged with $300 million in January . — Kyle LaHucik 💉 Eli Lilly halts muscle-sparing diabetes study: The drugmaker called off a Phase 2 trial of its muscle-building product bimagrumab in combination with its obesity shot Zepbound, according to the federal clinical trials register. The trial intended to enroll patients with both obesity and type 2 diabetes, but Lilly terminated it for “strategic business reasons.” A spokesperson said the company routinely evaluates its clinical development programs “to optimize the potential for each product.” Another mid-stage trial of bimagrumab in nondiabetic obesity patients, again in combination with Zepbound, could report in the second quarter of next year. The activin/myostatin type II inhibitor has already shown promise in Phase 2 when used alongside Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 Wegovy. — Elizabeth Cairns 💰 UniQure launches $200M offering: The company set out to raise the money after reporting new positive data from its Huntington’s disease gene therapy. UniQure shares $QURE were up nearly 250% at market close on Wednesday. — Max Gelman 📈 MBX Biosciences’ $199M offering: The company is selling about 11.1 million shares at $18 apiece. Earlier this week, MBX disclosed Phase 2 data for its experimental hypoparathyroidism treatment. — Jaimy Lee 📝 KalVista’s $125M offering: The company plans to use the proceeds from the offering of convertible senior notes to fund the commercialization of Ekterly , its newly approved hereditary angioedema drug. — Jaimy Lee 💵 Volastra adds $30M to Series A: The New York biotech reeled in the additional funds from “all key existing investors,” a Volastra spokesperson told Endpoints News , confirming the details of an SEC filing . The startup in 2023 disclosed a $60 million Series A from Polaris, ARCH Venture Partners and Eli Lilly, among others. The cancer biotech in May presented data on its KIF18A inhibitor VLS-1488. It also has the rights to an Amgen oncology drug. — Kyle LaHucik 💊 Basilea Pharmaceutica’s new government funding: The company has been awarded a BARDA contract to advance a Phase 3 oral antibiotic for complicated urinary tract infections. Basilea recently acquired the global rights to the antibiotic, which is called ceftibuten-ledaborbactam etzadroxil, from Venatorx. It’s getting $6 million upfront, with up to $153 million in milestones on the table. — Anna Brown 🏦 Gossamer Bio to acquire Respira Therapeutics in all-stock deal: The buyout will net Gossamer a program called RT234, which is being studied for pulmonary hypertension. RT234 is an inhaled version of the generic drug vardenafil, a PDE5 inhibitor. Gossamer plans to seek an approval through the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway, though it may not start new clinical trials until 2027. Gossamer’s stock $GOSS was down about 7% on Thursday morning. — Max Gelman 💸 Sanofi invests $25M in Immuneering: The French drugmaker purchased $25 million worth of Immuneering’s stock as part of a public offering. Immuneering on Wednesday reported additional positive data for its experimental pancreatic cancer drug. It intends to use the money from the offering on preclinical and clinical studies. — Max Gelman 💼 Heidelberg Pharma is laying off 75% of its staff: The German biotech said it hasn’t yet received $70 million for a milestone stemming from a deal with HealthCare Royalty, saying the “condition had not been met.” To conserve cash, it will now focus on developing its antibody-drug conjugate HDP-101, and it’s pausing work on another one called HDP-102 and discontinuing all early research. Heidelberg has 116 employees at the end of 2024. It had €22.9 million in cash as of Aug. 31. — Jaimy Lee