Deals
Novartis and Unnatural Products did not specify which disease targets they’re going after, only noting that the latter’s macrocyclic platform can generate potentially next-generation therapies that could apply to cardiovascular conditions.
FEATURED STORIES
Henry Gosebruch, who has $3.5 billion in capital to deploy, is thinking broad as he steers the decades-old biotech out of years of turmoil.
Speaking on the sidelines of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Novo business development executive Tamara Darsow said the company is gunning for obesity and diabetes assets.
Buying vaccine biotech Dynavax was an easy choice for Sanofi despite anti-vaccine moves by the Trump administration.
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The star of GSK’s Hengrui partnership is the COPD candidate HRS-9821, which will complement the pharma’s respiratory pipeline that’s anchored by the anti-asthma drug Nucala.
The collaboration focuses on ‘molecular gates,’ a class of molecules that the startup company Gate Bioscience says can stop pathogenic proteins from leaving the cell.
The partnership with Matchpoint Therapeutics gets Novartis global rights on all molecules for several unannounced inflammatory diseases identified through the biotech’s discovery platform.
What will Boston Pharmaceuticals CEO Sophie Kornowski do now that the company is selling off its pipeline and winding down operations? Whatever it is, data will take her there.
The deal, which involves a $700 million upfront payment, gives AbbVie access to ISB 2001, a clinical-stage first-in-class trispecific antibody currently being tested for certain kinds of multiple myeloma as well as autoimmune indications.
The deal gives AstraZeneca’s rare disease unit Alexion access to specialized capsids developed by the Japanese biotech JCR Pharmaceuticals for use in up to five of Alexion’s gene therapies.
In the second biggest acquisition of the year, Merck gains the commercial COPD drug Ohtuvayre, which could help offset the loss of revenue when Keytruda’s patent expires later this decade.
Analysts said the deal with Novo was likely giving Hims “‘credibility’ or increased consumer traffic,” adding that the “litigation risk is back on the table” now that the Danish pharma has stepped away.
The deal marks an end for CAR T company Cargo Therapeutics, which has been slashing its workforce and cutting programs since the January decision to halt its lead candidate for a certain type of aggressive large B cell lymphoma.
After the FDA rejection of Zurzuvae in one type of depression and the triple failure of neuro asset dalzanemdor, Sage was searching for a path forward at the end of December 2024. Biogen CEO Chris Viehbacher spied a possible deal, but the smaller company wasn’t interested.