China’s Hinova Pharmaceuticals closed nearly $146 million in a series C round investment to support multicenter clinical trials and the commercialization of their leading drug candidates both domestically and internationally. Hinova Pharmaceuticals Background Founded...
Biotech
Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) Increasingly Embraced by Biotech Investors
Investors are rediscovering the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a publicly traded shell firm that attracts investors to go out and buy private firms. Biotechs that seek to go public are discovering them as an alternative to an initial public offering for...
Bayer AG Joins Leading Israeli Biotech Incubator FutuRx
Biotech incubator FutuRx ltd., today announced that Leaps by Bayer, the impact investments unit of Bayer AG, will join FutuRx as an investor for incepting and incubating early stage biotech companies. Both Leaps by Bayer and FutuRx invest in paradigm-shifting...
NASDAQ the Place to be as Euro Biotech Seek Access to Vast Pools of Investor Dollars
Large pools of capital are flowing into biotech funds and companies as a flurry of European biotech seek access to New York’s Nasdaq in a frantic race to get in on the action. With a COVID-19 rush for vaccines and therapies, the Nasdaq biotech index <.NBI> peaks...
AbbVie Inks Deal with Alpine Immune Sciences for CD28/ICOS Inhibitor: Pays $60m Upfront & Up to $805m in Downstream Payments
A Seattle-based biotech developing innovative treatments for cancer and autoimmune/inflammatory diseases secured a $60 million cash payment and up to $805 million in potential drug development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments from major pharmaceutical...
While Moderna Attracts More Investor Attention, Could BioNTech be the Lead mRNA Candidate: The Dark Horse?
With Moderna getting much of the COVID-19 vaccine attention lately, there is another comparable investigational product not as much in the limelight. Germany-based BioNTech, backed by a billionaire and now Pfizer, may actually have some advantages. How come its stock...
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Spinoff Airway Therapeutics Developing COVID-19 Biologic
Airway Therapeutics Inc.,a biopharmaceutical company that spun out of the research of Jeffrey Whitsett of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, is developing a new class of biologics to break the cycle of injury and inflammation for patients with respiratory...
Demand for Hummingbird Bioscience Series B High with $25M Raised
Singapore-based Hummingbird Bioscience closed an extended Series B funding round of US$25 million. This brings the total capital raised through financing activities and strategic partnerships to over US$65 million to date. SK Holdings led the financing along with...
Is the Australian Government doing Enough to Position Australia Biotech for Investors?
Although considerable biotech research and development occurs in Australia, one of the nation’s elite investors is critical of the government for not doing enough to foster and facilitate a biotech-friendly investment environment. Declarations of aspirations to be an...
A Different Kind of Drug Company? Startup EQRx Raises $200m in A Round
A new biotech, EQRx, raised $200 million in series A funding to develop patent-protected drugs that will cost less than similar high-end therapies. This sizeable round was led by an “A” list of investors including GV, ARCH Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and...
Amgen Buys into 20.5% of Chinese Oncology Venture for $2.8 billion
American biotech Amgen has purchased a 20.5% stake in oncology biotech venture BeiGene of approximately $2.8 billion to support the expansion of its oncology footprint in China. TrialSite News breaks down this important news in the clinical research world. Who is...
Korean Biotech 2020: Capital Flows & Volatility Forthcoming
South Korean society embraces entrepreneurial pursuits with the best of them worldwide. Some of the world’s most successful companies were born on the southern-end of the Korean Peninsula. Korean society has caught biohealth fever. Capital flows are intensifying...
The Wild East and the Chinese Biotech Boom: The Short Run vs. the Long
Could we be entering “bubble” territory with publicly traded Chinese biotechnology ventures? With all of the conditions present for a massive success, extreme volatility and lack of profits make this an investment sector not for the faint of heart. In a market where...
Halozyme Cuts its Lead Oncology Program PEGPH20 & Reduces 55% of Workforce
Biotech venture Halozyme will close its development program for PEGPH20 and instead zero in on delivery technology program. They will lay off 55% of their workforce, reports investment site Seeking Alpha. What Happened? The venture’s oncology operations will be cut...
Odense University Hospital Screens First Patient for Phase IIb Prostate Cancer ‘BRaVac’ Study Assessing RV001
Odense University Hospital screen first patient for phase IIb prostate cancer “BRaVac” study assessing drug candidate RV001. The lead investigator there is Mads Hvid Aaberg Poulsen, MD. The Study The study will enroll approximately 180 adult male patients with an...
Summaries of Errant Gene Therapeutics vs. Sloan Kettering Court Exhibits
On August 19, 2019, Errant Gene Therapeutics met the face of victory when “the New York Supreme Court Justice Barry Ostrager sanctioned Bluebird Bio, Inc. (“Bluebird”) and rejected Bluebird’s efforts to prevent EGT from proceeding with its lawsuit in Massachusetts...
Follow-Up on Errant Gene Therapeutics: Their Major Victory in New York Court
On July 30, 2019, TrialSite News covered in depth the complex history of Errant Gene Therapeutics and the actions that led to its present court case, Case 150856/2017, Errant Gene Therapeutics vs. Sloan Kettering. At the time of this publication, the small,...
A Familyman’s Battle Against the Forefront of Capitalist Medicine: The Case of Errant Gene Therapeutics
Recently, TrialSite News summarized a story that merited a deeper review. The small, Chicago-based biotech venture Errant Gene Therapeutics, LLC was engaged in a court battle against a well-funded biotech called Bluebird Bio (which has raised over $400 million) and a...
Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Investigates Biotech Firm Medytox
Korean Ministry of Food and Drug announced an investigation into biotechnology company Medytox in reports that their shareholders were clinical determinants. The regulatory agency is investigating the fairness and objectivity and whether shareholders violated the...
Startup From Nice, France Venture Reveals Promising Preclinical Stage Cancer Treatment
Yukin Therapeutics operates in a fantastically beautify and fascinating place called Nice, France. The place has a history of doing things differently. After all, it often would align with one city state or principality over another as the residents were fiercely...