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 Novo Nordisk and Flagship Pioneering collaborate. The collaboration will help create a portfolio of novel research programmes to develop transformational medicines. 

2️⃣ Zhaoke signs a $130mn deal for two eyedrop near-vision treatments. Brimochol PF and Carbachol PF are investigational, once-daily therapeutics that reduce the size of the pupil, resulting in a “pinhole effect,” allowing only centrally focused light rays to enter the eye.

3️⃣ Bioasis, Neuramedy to cross blood-brain barrier together in $72mn licensing deal. Neuramedy has obtained the rights to tomaralimab in a licensing and research deal. The therapy is under development for Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy (MSA), a rare degenerative neurological disorder that can impair movement, coordination, sleep, and more.

4️⃣ GC Cell inks Korea's 1st CDMO agreement for solid CAR-T therapy. Under the accord, GC Cell will produce and test the quality of Cellab Med's CAR-T treatment, YYB-103, planned for use in phase 1 clinical trials.

5️⃣ Bora Pharmaceuticals acquires Eden Biologics. The acquisition will help the Bora Group build a presence in the biopharmaceutical market and position the organization to expand its service offering to its clients by supporting new and innovative drug development.

⏫ Pipeline and Approvals

1️⃣ Athira Pharma extends ongoing open label extension study for LIFT-AD and ACT-AD clinical trials of Fosgonimeton (ATH-1017) for mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease

2️⃣ Maruho’s Rozex in line for rosacea nod in Japan

3️⃣ Myovant Sciences' Relugolix approved in Europe for prostate cancer

4️⃣ Eisai completes rolling submission to the U.S. FDA for biologics license application of Lecanemab for early Alzheimer’s disease under the accelerated approval pathway

5️⃣ Green Valley's seaweed-derived Alzheimer's drug, approved in China

💰 Funding

1️⃣ Aspen Neuroscience announces $147.5mn Series B financing, led by GV, LYFE Capital, and Revelation Partners. The investment will help fund clinical trials of the company's first iPSC-derived autologous dopamine neuron replacement for Parkinson's disease.

2️⃣ OncoHost raises $35mn Series C funding round to launch blood tests that may rewrite the standard of care for precision oncology. AI-powered precision oncology platform enables clinicians to personalize cancer treatment plans and overcome resistance. 

3️⃣ More Moma's $150mn series B will push precision cancer drugs to clinics by 2024. The biopharmaceutical’s goal is to discover the next generation of precision medicines by going after disease-causing proteins known as the ATPase class of enzymes.

4️⃣ A GPCR startup out of France and Canada scores its Series A after 20 years of wheeling and dealing. Funding will help move pipeline development for an EP4R antagonist, push two GPCR programs into the IND stage (which does include an anti-CCR8 antibody), and advance the biotech’s discovery efforts for GPCR-targeting drugs.

5️⃣ Nuvig Therapeutics gets $47mn to bring immune system back into balance. Nuvig Therapeutics is developing drugs that tap into one of the body’s natural mechanisms for controlling inflammation.

📰 Interesting News

1️⃣ CEO of a cardiology startup declares that its tech could potentially cure heart failure. Ceryx's device, Cysoni, is designed to pace the heart in rhythm with a person's respiration so that the heart rate and breathing are synced, this is typically the case for a healthy person, but for someone with heart failure, that link becomes severed.

2️⃣ The next generation of diabetes technology. New devices are coming, but the real advances will involve combinations.

3️⃣ Control sugar levels sooner to guard against heart attacks' finds new study into type 2 diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes may need to reduce their blood sugar levels sooner after diagnosis than previously thought, to prevent major cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, according to new research.

4️⃣ The top European biotech investments in April 2022. Top funding rounds were dominated by UK and Swiss firms targeting genetic diseases and cancer.

5️⃣ How to choose the right cell and gene therapy CDMO. For CGT companies, many functional assays in the efficacy stage and other preclinical stages can greatly impact later-stage chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) and associated analytical development. It’s always better to start early rather than later in establishing such a partnership