The Weekly Roundup newsletter curates the top five - deals, pipeline, funding, and news from the past week.

The complete list is available here: Industry Updates

🤝Deals and Collaborations

1️⃣ Hangzhou Chance Pharma acquires China rights for Acorda's inhaled Parkinson's therapy in a $144M deal. //Read more

2️⃣ Swedish blood disorder specialist Sobi has acquired Seattle-based CTI BioPharma and its potential blockbuster myelofibrosis treatment Vonjo for $1.7 billion. Vonjo was approved last year and the acquisition is expected to enhance Sobi's portfolio. //Read more

3️⃣Alvotech partners with Polifarma to commercialize the proposed biosimilar AVT06 for Eylea (aflibercept) in Turkey. //Read more

4️⃣ Angelini and JCR collaborate to develop brain-penetrant biologics for epilepsy in a deal worth up to $505M. The partnership will focus on the discovery and pre-clinical work using J-Brain Cargo technology. //Read more

5️⃣Interius BioTherapeutics partners with WuXi Advanced Therapies for GMP manufacturing of Phase I clinical products using WuXi ATU's CTDMO platform. //Read more

⏫ Pipeline and Approvals

1️⃣ The European Union has approved Ultomiris (ravulizumab) as the first long-acting C5 complement inhibitor for the treatment of adult patients with anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody-positive (Ab+) neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). //Explore further

2️⃣ The European Commission has approved Servier's Tibsovo (ivosidenib tablets) for two indications - as a combination therapy for newly diagnosed adult patients with IDH1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia and as a monotherapy for adult patients with IDH1-mutated locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma. Tibsovo is the only IDH1 inhibitor approved in Europe and has received an orphan medicine designation. //Explore further

3️⃣ An FDA advisory committee has voted in favor of Neffy, an epinephrine nasal spray product designed to deliver a 2mg dose of epinephrine to treat severe allergic reactions, clearing a key hurdle for the first needle-free option. The company is seeking FDA approval for anyone weighing at least 30kg and working on future studies for smaller children. //Explore further

4️⃣ LianBio's CAMZYOS® (mavacamten) has received marketing approval from the Pharmaceutical Administration Bureau of the Macau SAR for the treatment of adults with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM). //Explore further

5️⃣ Astellas Pharma's VEOZAHTM (fezolinetant) has been approved by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms (VMS) due to menopause, making it the first nonhormonal neurokinin 3 (NK3) receptor antagonist to be approved for this indication. VMS, which include hot flashes and night sweats, are common symptoms of menopause that can have a disruptive impact on women's daily activities and quality of life. //Explore further

💰 Funding

1️⃣ Gene and cell therapy manufacturer Ascend launches with over $130M funding, offering CMC services including process development, clinical manufacturing, and analytical and regulatory support to biotech companies. //Learn more

2️⃣ Health House International secures funding to support the development of Cullgen's targeted protein degraders platform for oncology and other diseases. HHI possesses licenses for the international distribution of medical cannabis products, psilocybin, and MDMA. //Learn more

3️⃣ DiogenX raises €27.5M in Series A funding to advance its regenerative treatment for type 1 diabetes towards clinical development. //Learn more

4️⃣ Convergent Therapeutics raises $90M to accelerate the development of next-generation radiopharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancer, with a focus on prostate cancer. //Learn more

5️⃣ NewBiologix launches with $50M funding to advance its DNA-based technology platform for manufacturing gene and cell therapies, aiming to address key production challenges in recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors used for advanced therapy medicinal products. //Learn more

📰 Interesting News

1️⃣ Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found that wearables, including the Apple Watch, can monitor and access psychological states through passive data collection and machine learning models, identifying a patient's degree of resilience and well-being. //Find out more

2️⃣ The human 'pangenome', a comprehensive map of genetic variation across diverse populations, has been published to make genomics more useful for diverse populations. The pangenome acts as a guide for researchers building genetic tests and seeking new drug targets. //Find out more

3️⃣ Deep Pharma Intelligence estimates that AI-driven drug discovery companies have received $24.6B in investments in 2022, tripling over the past four years, creating a $50B opportunity for big pharma. //Find out more

4️⃣ New research reveals that post-COVID fatigue is linked to underactivity in three areas of the nervous system: specific cortical circuits, the autonomic nervous system, and muscle abnormalities. The findings shed light on the causes of post-COVID fatigue. //Find out more

5️⃣ Envivo's smart capsule, CapScan, samples and collects data on gut health as it travels through the gut, revealing a reservoir that draws in the contents of the gut lumen for analysis later. CapScan is a device that is swallowed like a tablet and consists of layers of coatings that dissolve at different pH levels in the GI tract. //Find out more