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 Somai Pharmaceuticals has signed a supply contract with Cosma Poland to provide medical cannabis products for distribution in Poland under the Cosma trademark, with marketing authorization granted to Cosma. //Read more

2️⃣ Senju Pharmaceutical and Novaliq have closed a license agreement for NOV03 to treat dry eye disease in Japan. //Read more

3️⃣ Evergreen Theragnostics and PharmaLogic have announced a partnership for the sales and distribution of OCTEVY, a kit for the preparation of Ga 68 DOTATOC injection used in PET imaging to help detect neuroendocrine tumors, pending FDA approval in 2H 2023. If approved, PharmaLogic will sell and distribute OCTEVY to its extensive network of PET customers across the United States. //Read more

4️⃣ Bayer has entered into an exclusive license agreement with Cedilla Therapeutics to develop and commercialize their CyclinE1/CDK2 complex inhibitors, which selectively address oncogenic drivers in pre-clinical precision oncology. //Read more

5️⃣ Thaerapy and Resyca have signed a license agreement for Resyca's soft mist inhaler technology to develop a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension. //Read more

⏫ Pipeline and Approvals

1️⃣ Neurology: AstraZeneca's Soliris (eculizumab) has been approved in China as the first and only complement inhibitor for treating adult patients with refractory generalised myasthenia gravis (gMG) who are anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody-positive, based on results from the phase III REGAIN trial. //Explore further

2️⃣ Neurology: China Medical System's Diazepam Nasal Spray has been approved in China for the treatment of seizure clusters in epilepsy patients who are at least 6 years old, providing an easy administration with a fast onset of just four minutes to stop seizures. //Explore further

3️⃣ Respiratory: Amneal Pharmaceuticals' PEMRYDI RTU, the first and only ready-to-use presentation of pemetrexed for injection, has been approved by the US FDA as an initial treatment for metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer patients and for the initial treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma patients in combination with cisplatin. //Explore further

4️⃣ Neurology: SK Biopharmaceuticals has received sales approval for its antiepileptic treatment Cenobamate in Canada, which will pave the way for its business expansion throughout North America, including the US. //Explore further

5️⃣ Oncology: Genentech's Columvi has been approved by the FDA as the first and only bispecific antibody with a fixed-duration treatment for adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, based on response rate and durability of response in the Phase I/II NP30179 study. //Explore further

💰 Funding

1️⃣ Theradaptive has closed a $26 million series A investment round to continue its work towards meeting regulatory requirements, scaling up Good Manufacturing Practices, expanding its platform beyond orthopedics to additional indications, and preparing for first-in-human clinical trials later this year. //Learn more

2️⃣ Finnish biotech startup Solu has raised €1M to combat global antibiotic resistance by building the world's most extensive pathogen DNA library, which enables real-time monitoring to detect dangerous mutations and makes understanding, detecting, and preventing the spread of antibiotic resistance easier. //Learn more

3️⃣ Metagen Therapeutics has completed a Series A financing round raising a total of 1.7 billion Yen, which will be used for the development and operation of an intestinal microbiota bank as well as research and development of an intestinal microbiota drug discovery program. //Learn more

4️⃣ Invirsa has completed a $7.7M Series B financing round to advance its lead product candidate, INV-102, for the treatment of conditions associated with DNA damage, which will support Phase 2 studies in conditions such as acute infectious keratoconjunctivitis, dry eye disease, and Fuchs corneal dystrophy. //Learn more

5️⃣ Zucara Therapeutics will receive an additional $2 million in funding from JDRF to support the phase 2 study of ZT-01, reflecting a continuing unmet need for adjunctive therapies to insulin for patients with type 1 diabetes. //Learn more

📰 Interesting News

1️⃣ Varda Space Industries plans to use satellites in Earth's orbit for pharmaceutical development, betting that drug manufacturing will be the next big extraterrestrial business. //Find out more

2️⃣ The FDA maintains a list of off-patent, off-exclusivity drugs without an approved generic to encourage the development and submission of ANDAs in markets with little competition, updating it every six months. //Find out more

3️⃣ Sanofi is using AI technologies, including an internal app, to power pharma innovations as part of its aim to become the "first pharma company powered by artificial intelligence at scale," according to CEO Paul Hudson. //Find out more

4️⃣ The American Medical Association (AMA) is urging doctors to de-emphasize the use of BMI in gauging health and obesity, citing its limitations in considering a person's gender or ethnicity and its reliance on data from previous generations of non-Hispanic White populations. //Find out more

5️⃣ Google Lens now allows users to take a picture of their skin and match it with the most relevant search results to provide insight into skin conditions. //Find out more