A San Diego biotech looking to double up on the power of antibody-drug conjugates with fewer toxicities has patched together a $137 million Series B from a group of blue-chip investors. The seven-employee startup, called Sidewinder Therapeutics, plans to make its mark by simultaneously engaging two targets and “overcoming fundamental limitations in the first-gen ADCs,” CEO Eric Murphy said in an interview. That includes avoiding off-target toxicities that arise when ADC payloads spill into the b

It’s no secret that cancer drug development is full of bandwagons. Companies see a promising target, and crowd around it (see PD-1xVEGF or HER2 for recent examples). Aashish Manglik But two cancer biologists — Aaron Ring at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and Aashish Manglik at UCSF — believed they could go one layer deeper than others. Even within a single protein target, there could be different ways for a drug to attach. They just needed a systematic way to seek out those small bits on a pr

Funding led by TK Partners supports further clinical validation, regulatory preparation, and commercialization of OncoGaze™ April 2, 2026 -- Acurion, a precision oncology technology company advancing AI-driven cancer biomarker detection through its OncoGaze™ platform, today announced the closing of its oversubscribed seed financing round, raising $4.3 million against a $4 million target. The round was led by TK & Partners, with participation from Mesa Verde Venture Partners, The National Found

April 2, 2026 -- LOTTE HOLDINGS, CO., LTD. (Tokyo, Japan; CEO: Genichi Tamatsuka, hereinafter “LOTTE HOLDINGS”) announces a strategic investment into Rakuten Medical, Inc. (hereinafter “Rakuten Medical”), a global biotechnology company developing and commercializing photoimmunotherapy-based anticancer therapies through its proprietary Alluminox ® platform. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in San Diego, CA, Rakuten Medical is currently advancing ASP-1929, its first photoimmunotherapy drug, thro

April 3, 2026 -- Syneron Bio, a leader in intelligent platform-driven macrocyclic peptide drug discovery, announced the successful closing of its Series B financing on March 31th. The round was led by an international life-science fund, with co-lead participation from Decheng Capital, and CDH VGC. Additional investors included a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority ("ADIA"), True Light Capital, — an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek, Qiming Venture Partners

April 01, 2026 -- Aprea Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: APRE) (“Aprea”, or the “Company”), a clinical-stage precision medicine oncology company focused on the discovery and development of targeted therapies for patients with biomarker-defined cancers, today announced the closing of its previously announced oversubscribed private placement financing. Total gross proceeds from the offering are approximately $30 million to the Company before deducting placement agent fees and other private placement e

AI-powered biotech company Insilico Medicine has signed a deal with pharma giant Eli Lilly and Company that could be worth $2.75 billion, plus tiered royalties on future sales, that allows the pharma giant to exclusively use Insilico's AI engine for drug discovery and development across several therapeutic areas. Insilico's Pharma.AI platform uses generative AI and large language models (LLMs) to speed up drug discovery, scientific research and sustainability. The company touts its platform as

March 27, 2026 -- Artelo Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARTL) today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements for the purchase and sale of an aggregate of 3,188,407 shares of common stock (or pre-funded warrant in lieu thereof) and warrants to purchase up to 6,376,814 shares of common stock, at a combined purchase price of $3.45 per share of common stock (or per pre-funded warrant in lieu thereof) and accompanying warrants, in a private placement priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rul

-- Financing led by Access Biotechnology with participation from new and existing investors -- Financing to support advancement of two next-generation PI3Kα pan-mutant inhibitors for breast cancer and vascular anomalies – expect to for each program in 1H 2027 -- Liam Ratcliffe Joins OnKure’s Board of Directors March 27, 2026 -- OnKure Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: OKUR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel precision medicines, today announced that it has entere

March 27, 2026 -- Vor Bio (Nasdaq: VOR), a clinical-stage biotechnology company transforming the treatment of autoimmune diseases, announced today that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement to sell 5,338,078 shares of its common stock at a price of $14.05 per share in a private placement. Vor Bio anticipates the gross proceeds from the private placement to be approximately $75 million, before deducting any offering-related expenses. Vor Bio did not engage a placement agent in conn