BL0175

Plus, news about Accro Bioscience, Hansa Biopharma, Shanghai Best-Link Bioscience and UCB. Full-Life Technologies gets $150M: The radiotherapy company has raised $110 million in a Series D round and another $40 million in debt financing. The company plans to use the Series D to fund its clinical stage assets, including its 225Ac-FL-020 for prostate cancer and its 225Ac-FL-261 candidate for multiple solid tumor indications.  Full-Life will also use the funds to start manufacturing the radioisotope actinium-225 at its factory in Belgium. The financing was led by Vivo Capital, along with SK, Chengwei Capital, HSG, Junson Capital, Yunion, Plaisance, Sky9 Capital, TSG Capital and others. — Anna Brown Quince finds a new life: Public biotech Quince Therapeutics reverse-merged with private drug developer Orphai Therapeutics in a deal that includes $115 million upfront and up to $72 million additionally down the road. Well-known life sciences investors took part, including Cormorant, Foresite and others. In conjunction with the deal, Orphai disclosed Phase 2a data for its inhaled version of rapamycin in pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease. Quince had failed a Phase 3 in January, prompting the company to look for alternatives. — Kyle LaHucik China biotech gets $50M: Suzhou-based Accro Bioscience secured a Series C from OrbiMed, TCG Crossover, Lilly Asia Ventures, Shenzhen Capital Group and others. The company is working on regulated cell death and will use the money for a Phase 2b of its RIPK2 inhibitor, dubbed AC-101, in ulcerative colitis. Another biotech in that target space, Massachusetts and Michigan startup Odyssey Therapeutics, raised a $279 million IPO earlier this month. — Kyle LaHucik SERB Pharmaceuticals buys rights to Hansa Biopharma drug: The Belgian specialty pharma company will acquire the development and commercialization rights to Hansa’s Idefirix for €115 million ($127 million). The rights pertain to the EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland and the Middle East and North Africa region. The drug still needs to be filed with the European Medicines Agency, and Hansa will support SERB with that process. — Kyle LaHucik Best-Link Bioscience raises Series C: The Shanghai biotech collected a 400 million yuan ($58 million) funding round just five months after disclosing a 200 million yuan ($29 million) Series B. The five-year-old biotech is in Phase 2a in the US, China and Australia with a treatment candidate called BL0020 for small cell lung cancer. It also has a protein degrader named BL0175 in Phase 1 for breast cancer. — Kyle LaHucik UCB’s Bimzelx beats Skyrizi: The drugmaker said its medicine had superior joint outcomes at week 16 compared to AbbVie’s Skyrizi in adults with psoriatic arthritis. UCB said it was the first approved biologic to show statistically significant superiority on that measurement in a head-to-head trial in that indication. The data come after UCB made two acquisition announcements in recent weeks. — Kyle LaHucik