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 Highlightll Pharma out-licenses dual inhibitor for Parkinson’s for $970 mn. The licensed candidate is a small molecule dual TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor that treats autoimmune/inflammatory and CNS diseases.

2️⃣ Duke-NUS in Singapore partners with Swedish biotech startup Alder Therapeutics. Duke-NUS in Singapore has licensed two laminin-related patents to Sweden-based biotech startup Alder Therapeutics to enhance the development of Alder’s retinal and cardiac cell therapeutic products.

3️⃣ Everest Medicines inks MoU for strategic cooperation with Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences in renal diseases research.

4️⃣ TaiGen enters an exclusive license agreement with Joincare for TG-1000 in China. TG-1000 is a novel pan-influenza antiviral, with broad-spectrum activity against influenza-A, influenza-B, avian flu H7N9, and Tamiflu-resistant viruses.

5️⃣ Catalent agrees to manufacture naloxone nasal spray for Pittsburgh pharma company. Agreement for manufacturing of naloxone nasal spray, RiVive, for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose.

⏫ Pipeline and Approvals

1️⃣ Oncology: China NMPA grants conditional approval to AstraZeneca’s Calquence for adults with previously treated mantle cell lymphoma

2️⃣ Hematology: EMA recommends approval of eculizumab biosimilar Bekemv

3️⃣ Oncology: Iovance completes BLA submission to US FDA for lifileucel in advanced melanoma

4️⃣ Genetic disorder: US FDA approves Pharming’s Joenja to treat APDS in adult and paediatric patients 12 years of age and older

5️⃣ Ophthalmology: Japan’s PMDA approves Aurion Biotech’s novel cell therapy, Vyznova to treat corneal endothelial disease

💰 Funding

1️⃣ Apprentice raises $65mn for life sciences manufacturing. Apprentice’s disruptive technology helps life science manufacturers get therapeutics to patients faster by providing one platform to turn molecules into medicine.

2️⃣ Iktos announces closing of €15.5mn in Series A round. This financing will enable the company to further develop its AI and drug discovery capabilities and expand its existing SaaS software offering, in addition to launching Iktos Robotics; a unique, end-to-end, drug discovery platform that combines artificial intelligence and automation of chemical synthesis to significantly accelerate drug discovery timelines.

3️⃣ Neurotechnology company Cognito Therapeutics scores $73mn. The company will use the funds to advance the study of its neuromodulation device intended to treat Alzheimer's disease.

4️⃣ EpiBiologics launches with $50mn Series A financing to advance next-generation protein degradation platform. Current financing will enable the company to expand and validate the platform, advance the pipeline of drug candidates, and further build a talented team of scientists and protein engineers.

5️⃣ Microbiome therapeutics biotech Mbiomics raises €13mn. Mbiomics uses its proprietary, tailored high-resolution profiling platform and computational techniques to generate precision data on microbiota modulation with funding it can spearhead the emerging field of synthetic microbial consortia with the potential to revolutionize the treatment of a wide range of diseases, from cancer to inflammatory bowel diseases.

📰 Interesting News

1️⃣ Oligos – The medicines of the future? Oligos offer new opportunities for therapeutic intervention because they act inside the cell and can be designed to target essentially any gene in our genome.

2️⃣ Biopharma 4.0 the talent evolution. Biopharma 4.0 refers to applications of data and digital technologies to biotherapeutic manufacturing. The skills and expertise that are required to operate such technologies are misaligned with the available talent pool.

3️⃣ Study suggests diabetes screening should be guided by age, not weight. Current guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommend screening adults ages 35-70 who are considered overweight or obese (having a body mass index over 25 however Asian people, tend to develop diabetes at lower BMIs, so to identify more people with the condition across groups, all adults ages 35-70 regardless of their weight should be screened.

4️⃣ Exploring the potential of the metaverse in healthcare. When compared to current online or classroom models, immersive training has been shown to enhance both retention and comprehension, with studies of mixed reality (MR) medical training recording an improved efficiency in medical students by 60%.

5️⃣ Tuberculosis research: 5 positive advancements over the past year. Collaboration to advance two investigational TB combination treatment regimens, license agreement to develop and commercialize investigational drug for TB, plans to establish a TB Vaccine Accelerator Council, contract awarded for a research project to develop the next generation of tuberculosis vaccines and research group develops new method to help target more effective treatments for tuberculosis.