Plus, news about AstraZeneca, Moderna, Nanexa, Phare Bio, Basilea Pharmaceutica, Immunovant and Aukera Therapeutics:
💊 Corbus Pharmaceuticals reports obesity pill data
: Nine patients with obesity given a cannabinoid type-1 (CB1) inverse agonist, dubbed CRB-913, in a Phase 1a trial lost 2.9% of their weight, on a placebo-adjusted basis, after two weeks, Corbus
said
. There were no serious treatment-emergent adverse events, but there were three cases of mild anxiety and one of mild irritability. The biotech has started a three-month dose-finding Phase 1b study of the pill called CANYON-1, which should read out next year. —
Elizabeth Cairns
🪩 Ikena Oncology CEO heads to Disco:
After
handing over Ikena’s Nasdaq spot
to Inmagene Biopharmaceuticals, Mark Manfredi is back in the CEO role at Boston biotech
Disco Pharmaceuticals
, an oncology biotech backed by AbbVie Ventures. The biotech’s surfaceome-based platform also got another €16 million in
seed funding
. The money will help the Cologne, Germany-based startup work on ADCs for small-cell lung cancer and microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer.
— Kyle LaHucik
📊 AstraZeneca’s novel combination for breast cancer:
The UK drugmaker shared a cut of data from a Phase 1/2a trial testing its PARP1 inhibitor saruparib with its next-generation SERD camizestrant. In 35 evaluable patients, the treatment regimen achieved an objective response rate of about 23% and an average of 4.4 months of progression-free survival, according to a poster shared Wednesday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The trial enrolled patients with advanced or relapsed ER-positive, HER2-negative or -low breast cancer.
— Ayisha Sharma
💉 Moderna partners on long-acting injectable tech:
The vaccine maker will gain access to Swedish biotech Nanexa’s long-acting drug delivery platform for
$3 million
upfront and up to $500 million in biobucks.
— Kyle LaHucik
🔬 Phare Bio strikes a drug discovery deal with Basilea
:
The AI-focused biotech will use its resources
to make molecules
that have the potential to be antibacterial assets, and Basilea will then take over to develop them. Although terms of the deal are undisclosed, Phare Bio could receive “pre-defined success-based payments.” –
Reynald Castaneda
💰 Immunovant’s $550M offering:
The company is
selling
26.2 million shares at $21 apiece. The raise will help Immunovant work on its investigational Graves’ disease candidate, codenamed
IMVT-1402
, up to its possible commercial launch. –
Reynald Castaneda
🇨🇭 New Basel biotech just dropped:
Aukera Therapeutics, a University of Basel spinout,
emerged
with CHF 4.5 million ($5.6 million) in seed funding from board member David Urech, Kickfund and Zürcher Kantonalbank. They’re looking at making therapies for tuberous sclerosis complex, metabolic conditions, age-related diseases and neurodegenerative disorders.
— Kyle LaHucik