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 Vivo Capital will invest $60mn in a new joint venture formed with Arrowhead Pharma, a Pasadena, CA biotech, which will have China rights to four Arrowhead RNAi candidates.

2️⃣ Symeres acquires Organix Inc., adding lipids expertise and a strategic foothold in the US. Symeres a leading European drug discovery CRO/CDMO acquires Organix a US-based specialized organic chemistry services provider with a focus on lipids

3️⃣ Fuso inked a licensing pact with Aetas obtaining the exclusive rights to develop, manufacture, and market the acute heart failure drug M201-A in Japan.

4️⃣ Societal CDMO lands NCI packaging deal for anti-tumor capsules following the rebrand. Deal to manufacture and package ammonium tetrathiomolybdate capsules which are believed to have the potential to enhance the activity of platinum-based antitumor agents.

5️⃣ 2 become 1: Caladrius and Cend merge into tumor-focused Lisata Therapeutics. The new company will advance Cend’s CEND-1 as its lead product candidate in a variety of difficult-to-treat solid tumor applications, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

⏫ Pipeline and Approvals

1️⃣ EU Panel confirms nod for Kissei (JP) originated fibroid drug

2️⃣ Intra-Cellular Therapies gained the FDA's approval for its drug Caplyta, or lumateperone, as a treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar depression

3️⃣ Cara Therapeutics' Kapruvia approved by the European Commission for the treatment of moderate-to-severe pruritus in hemodialysis patients

4️⃣ FDA approved Bristol Myers Squibb’s Camzyos, the first drug to treat the cause of an inherited form of heart failure known as obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

5️⃣ FDA approved Mycovia’s Vivjoa, first med for chronic yeast infection

💰 Funding

1️⃣ Biofourmis banks $300mn megaround to fuel its growth in remote care, potential M&A deals. Biofourmis plans to scale up its virtual care offerings. This includes delivering personalized and predictive care-at-home to a growing number of acutely ill patients and post-acute care following hospital discharge.

2️⃣ Apertura Gene Technology launches with $67mn Series A financing. Funding will help develop genetic medicines using platform technologies that address key limitations of genetic medicine delivery and expression.

3️⃣ Cancer biotech Pheast unveils $76mn to expand immunotherapy’s menu to new targets. Pheast’s technology has the potential to take the approach to a broader range of cancer types, including those that have historically resisted immunotherapy.

4️⃣ RVAC Medicines, a CBC-Incubated mRNA Platform company, raises $140mn to expand R&D and manufacturing capacity. RVAC aims to address unmet medical needs, particularly in emerging markets, through novel vaccines and therapeutics, including a potential best-in-class COVID vaccine.

5️⃣ Ashvattha lands $69mn series B, Huadong licensing deal. Funds will strengthen its ability to develop hydroxyl dendrimer-based medicines and accelerate efforts to advance its candidates to the clinic.

📰 Interesting News

1️⃣ 10 leading pharma executives you need to know. This article has parsed a range of metrics, including CEOs’ approval ratings, their ability to navigate the pandemic, and their firms’ stock performance over time, to identify ten leading pharma executives.

2️⃣ The 9 things wildly successful biotechs have in common. They have a certain way of thinking that propels everyone working there beyond day-to-day concerns and enables them to do great things.

3️⃣ Climate change could spark future pandemics. Global warming could fuel future pandemics by dramatically increasing the risk viruses will jump into humans from other animals.

4️⃣ Scientists to trial world-first long-acting injection for high blood pressure. Long-acting hypertension treatment could provide patients with an injection of medication every six months.

5️⃣ Emerging trends in cell & gene therapies for immuno-oncology. Following the approval of five autologous cell therapies, establishing safe and effective off-the-shelf solutions remains significant interest in offering more patients readily accessible and economical therapies.