Sciwind Biosciences announced
last night
that it signed an expansive license agreement with Sanofi to develop and commercialize Sanofi’s long-lasting glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor agonists. According to Sciwind, the lead candidate is currently under preclinical development.
The deal covers all applicable indications for the molecule. Sciwind plans to develop the lead GIP receptor agonist as part of combination with XWoo3, its GLP-1 peptide candidate which is currently being evaluated in Phase II studies to potentially treat diabetes, obesity and NASH.
“We look forward to the opportunity to combine Sanofi’s long-lasting GIP receptor agonist with Sciwind’s GLP-1 drug candidates which we hope will lead to development of more efficacious and better tolerated combination therapies for metabolic conditions,” said Sciwind’s founder and CEO Hai Pan in a statement.
ImmunityBio has reached a deal with Australian biotech EnGeneIC — for a potential treatment for Covid-19 and cancer.
The two companies
announced
a deal on EnGeneIC’s nano cell technology, otherwise known as EnGeneIC Dream Vector, or EDV. Early results from an EnGeneIC clinical trial showed that treating Covid-19 using this tech was able to “neutralize” Covid-19 and all other variants tested, including Delta, the company claimed, although they have yet to release any data.
And in terms of its effectiveness against cancer, Phase I and IIa trials in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer is underway, and the FDA recently authorized another trial in the US.
Now onto the deal. EnGeneIC will grant ImmunityBio an exclusive, worldwide license to develop, manufacture and commercialize EDV in combination with its anti-cancer drugs and COVID-19 vaccine. ImmunityBio also agreed to build EDV manufacturing facilities in the US and South Africa, and cover costs associated with clinical trials and regulatory approvals.
While specific amounts were not disclosed, EnGeneIC will also receive upfront payments and fees for future cancer programs, and the two companies agreed to an even split on net profit from worldwide sales of EDV-based therapeutics.
Back in 2017, Arcus Biosciences and Tokyo oncology biotech Taiho Pharmaceutical agreed to an option and license agreement — and Taiho has now exercised one of its options.
The companies announced
this morning
that Taiho exercised its option for two of Arcus’s anti-TIGIT antibodies: domvanalimab and AB308 — to be licensed by Taiho in Japan and certain other territories in Asia, excluding China.
This is not Taiho’s first time exercising one of its options to an Arcus program — the Japanese biotech has already obtained exclusive rights to etrumadenant (AB928), an adenosine A2a/A2b receptor antagonist, and zimberelimab (AB122), an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody.
In exchange for the exclusive license, Taiho will make an option exercise payment, as well as additional payments upon achievement of clinical, regulatory and commercialization milestones, and, if any products from the program are approved, will pay royalties on net sales of such products. Details on the specific financials remain undisclosed.
Belgian biotech Confo Therapeutics is going in on a deal with Regeneron.
The biotech will be leveraging its platform, which uses selective VHH antibodies to stabilize G protein-coupled receptors, towards drug discovery.
According
to the two companies, the platform will be used to discover new antibody drug candidates for two GPCR targets.
While Confo will get an upfront payment along with research funding, there’s additional potential clinical, regulatory and commercial payments. Any further details have not been disclosed.
“We value this opportunity to showcase the strength of this new addition to our technology suite and participate in what we hope will be the development of successful new antibody-based therapies,” said Confo CSO Christel Menet in a prepared statement.
Yesterday, Gilead announced that it was making Amazon Web Services its cloud services provider. And today, it looks like Roche is following suit.
The megapharma announced
this morning
that it will be using AWS for the majority of its work on the cloud to “help Roche extract greater value from its health data.” This may include looking at health data related to genetic makeup of patients, along with drug efficacy and interactions, according to Roche.
Additionally, Roche is currently using different services under the AWS umbrella — such as analytics services, smartphone app platforms and even a machine-learning platform.
“With AWS, we are bringing together health data in new ways to better detect, diagnose, treat, monitor, and manage diseases more effectively and efficiently for the benefit of patients,” said Roche Group CFO and CIO Alan Hippe in a prepared statement.
One of Zai Lab’s Phase III studies has met its primary endpoint.
The biotech’s PRIME study of Zejula (niraparib) as a maintenance therapy “demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful progression-free survival benefit,” the company said
this morning
.
The patients in the study were Chinese patients with newly diagnosed advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer (collectively termed as ovarian cancer), following a response to platinum-based chemotherapy, regardless of biomarker status.
“The PRIME clinical data in Chinese patients confirmed the clinical profile of Zejula and were consistent with the results seen in the global PRIMA study,” said Zai Lab’s president and head of global development, oncology Alan Sandler.
Seattle presbyopia biotech Visus Therapeutics reported positive topline results
this morning
from its Phase II trial.
The trial, which was studying three new topical ophthalmic formulations under investigation for the treatment of presbyopia — also known as age-related farsightedness — achieved the endpoint of three lines of improvement in binocular near visual acuity without losing one line of distance vision with a minimum responder rate of 83% at one hour. The trial studied 85 subjects, ages 45 to 80, with two different types of presbyopia at three different sites in the US.
The biotech said it plans to commence Phase III pivotal trials shortly.
“We are very encouraged by the VIVID study topline clinical data,” said Visus co-founder, head of R&D and CMO Rhett Schiffman in a statement. “We are excited to initiate our Phase 3 pivotal trials.”
