After a hiatus of almost 3 years, we are reviving this newsletter and launching a new community for biotech and pharma called - DiscussPharma. At DiscussPharma, we are building tools for networking & deal-making and also for knowledge & career growth. We will soon open up the community for all.

The Friday Five newsletter will focus on the top five - deals, pipeline, funding, and news of the week. The complete list is available here: Industry Updates

🤝Deals

1️⃣ Lilly and Evotec aim $1B deal at kidney disease and diabetes: The collaboration between the two companies, which is currently set for three years, has a potential value of $1 billion, which covers up to five programs.

2️⃣ Abbisko Therapeutics and Lilly partner to develop new molecules: Abbisko is eligible to receive up to $258m in milestone payments from Lilly

3️⃣ Sanofi in-licenses ABL Bio Parkinson’s drug for $1B as alpha-synuclein research heats up: Targeting the toxic alpha-synuclein protein found in the brains of people with Parkinson’s is one of the most promising approaches to treat the disease in the clinic – but getting any drug into the brain is a challenge. Sanofi SA has joined with ABL Bio Inc. to solve this problem

4️⃣ BioNTech and Crescendo partner to develop precision immunotherapies: The collaboration sees BioNtech combine its multimodal immunotherapy expertise with Crescendo’s Humabody VH platform to produce precision immunotherapies

5️⃣ Fractale grabs Japan commercial rights to SaNOtize’s Anti-COVID nasal spray

⏫ Pipeline

1️⃣ PolarityTE announces U.S. FDA Approval of IND for pivotal Phase 3 study of SkinTE to support Chronic Cutaneous Ulcer Indication

2️⃣ Stempeutics gets DCGI nod for Phase 3 clinical trial on its product for treating COVID patients

3️⃣ Shionogi’s COVID-19 vaccine enters Japan PIII

4️⃣ Positive Top-Line Results for BIMZELX (bimekizumab) in Phase 3 Non-Radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis study

5️⃣ Galapagos’ Jyseleca gets UK marketing authorization for ulcerative colitis

💰 Funding

1️⃣ Ori Biotech raises over $100 million in Series B funding to launch innovative cell and gene therapy manufacturing platform: Ori will use the funds to further expand key personnel across all functions, in order to rapidly transition through pre-commercialization to the launch of its innovative CGT manufacturing platform

2️⃣ Engitix announces $54m Series A financing: Engitix has established a portfolio of internal programmes in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and liver metastasis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as well as partnered drug discovery programmes in fibrosis and solid tumours using its ECM platform

3️⃣ Novotech raises $255 million to expand Asia-China clinical CRO operations: It would use the funds to pursue M&A that will expand its geographical footprint while also adding data, AI, and tech-enabled services.

4️⃣ Iterative Scopes raises $150 million to improve diagnosis Of GI diseases: The company uses AI and machine learning to give doctors a second set of eyes to help detect colon polyps, abnormal clumps of cells budding out of the colon, as well as features of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and other GI disorders

5️⃣ ImmPACT Bio reels in $111M to prevent tumor escape with novel cell therapies: ImmPACT Bio will apply its Series B financing toward the development of cell therapies designed to prevent tumor escape.

📰 News

1️⃣ Development of fatty liver disease under a healthy diet: A new study identifies two genes, previously reported to be involved in cancer, as regulators of the metabolic state of the liver. Alterations in these genes influence the likelihood of developing fatty liver disease.

2️⃣ Big Pharma swept new drug approvals in Korea last year: Multinational pharmaceutical companies continued to dominate Korea's new drug market last year by winning nine out of 10 new drugs approvals

3️⃣ Inhaled Remdesivir for home use for Covid treatment: This innovation would allow patients to be treated outside a hospital or clinical setting

4️⃣ Key challenges for bio/pharmaceutical manufacturing 2022: Representatives from four contract manufacturing and development organizations (CDMOs) – Samsung Biologics, Lonza, MedPharm, and Genezen share their thoughts

5️⃣ An all-in-one approach to diabetes treatment: A team of researchers has come up with a new approach to streamline the process that people with diabetes use to estimate the carbohydrate content of a meal, draw blood to measure current blood glucose levels, and calculate and deliver the correct insulin dose.