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 and Collaborations

1️⃣ Britain's GSK to buy Affinivax for up to $3.3bn in vaccines push.U.S.-based Affinivax is developing next-generation vaccines the most advanced of which are for pneumococcal diseases, including pneumonia, meningitis, and sinusitis.

2️⃣ Immedica enters agreement with OrphanPacific. OrphanPacific gains the exclusive rights to Ravicti in Japan, Ravicti is approved in Europe and North America for the treatment of urea cycle disorders (UCD).

3️⃣ AmyriAD selects Societal CDMO to support the development of AD101. Societal will execute a range of clinical trial services to support the initiation of Phase 3 and Phase 4 clinical studies of AD101 which completed phase II trials for Alzheimer's disease.

4️⃣ Merck KGaA nabs another baton in protein degradation race with a $554mn Proxygen deal. Proxygen discovers and develops a slate of molecular glue therapies, a small molecule that helps destroys problematic proteins by degrading them, the two companies would work on developing candidates up until the clinic,

5️⃣ Roche pays Repare $125mn to join Big Pharma peers in cancer race. Global licensing agreement for an ATR inhibitor with monotherapy and combination applications in indications such as ovarian cancer.

⏫ Pipeline and Approvals

1️⃣ Kaken’s Spanish partner files Efinaconazole (for onychomycosis) in Europe

2️⃣ Japan panel OKs Taiho’s GIST medication

3️⃣ FDA approves Genentech’s Evrysdi (risdiplam) for use in babies under two months with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)

4️⃣ FDA clears Abbott’s next-gen medical device FreeStyle Libre 3 14-day Continuous glucose monitoring

5️⃣ Reata Pharmaceuticals' Friedreich ataxia drug Omaveloxolone granted priority review

💰 Funding

1️⃣ Transine Therapeutics closes £13.7mn seed financing. Proceeds will be used to accelerate its preclinical pipeline of novel therapeutic RNAs (SINEUPs) capable of upregulating protein expression in Central Nervous System and Ophthalmology indications.

2️⃣ Israeli startup NeuraLight raises $25mn. NeuraLight aims to leverage deep learning and computer vision to analyze people's faces and eyes in videos to detect if a person has a neurological condition.

3️⃣ Sapience raises funding to advance cancer therapy programmes. Funds to advance the pipeline of peptide therapeutics targeting protein-protein interactions. The funding will also help in advancing its lead programme, ST101, and progress its second programme, ST316, from IND-enabling studies to the begin a Phase I study

4️⃣ Upstream Bio dives into severe asthma space with $200mn in series A financing. The new company is focusing on an experimental treatment for severe asthma licensed from Astellas Pharma.

5️⃣ ProfoundBio closes $70mn Series A funding for ADC and immunotherapy drugs. The company is developing novel Antibody Drug Conjugates and T-Cell Engagers to address cancer. Profound will use the proceeds to advance its two lead ADC candidates into Phase I clinical trials.

📰 Interesting News

1️⃣ Fermented blackberry shows promise as an ingestible anti-wrinkle product. A research explored the anti-wrinkle power of an ingestible made with blackberry fermented with a lactic acid bacteria, intended to fight UV-caused wrinkling and increase dermal thickness and collagen accumulation.

2️⃣ Diabetes may weaken teeth and promote tooth decay. Researchers induced Type 1 diabetes in 35 mice which significantly reduced enamel and dentin microhardness

3️⃣ Drug-delivering gel makes medicine easier to swallow. Researchers in Boston have created shelf-stable gels made from plant-based oils that can act as an oral drug-delivery system. The gels can take on a variety of textures and should be most helpful for children and people who have difficulty swallowing conventional pills

4️⃣ Scientists solve a long-standing mystery: Why do some asthma patients respond poorly to treatment? Patients with the most severe form of asthma produce special substances in their airways when taking medicine during an asthma attack that blocks the treatment from working.

5️⃣ Height may be a risk factor for multiple health conditions. The study linked being taller to a lower risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and coronary heart disease. But the risk of atrial fibrillation was higher in taller participants.