Pipelines

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bluebird bio submits BLA for sickle cell disease gene therapy

By Rachel Arthur

bluebird bio has announced the submission of a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for lovotibeglogene autotemcel (lovo-cel) gene therapy in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD).

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Moderna & Merck plan Phase 3 trial for cancer vaccine with Keytruda

By Rachel Arthur

An mRNA cancer vaccine, in combination with Keytruda, reduced the risk of recurrence or death in melanoma patients by 44% compared to Keytruda alone, according to Phase 2b data. Merck and Moderna plan to initiate a Phase 3 study in the coming months.

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Merck to acquire Prometheus Biosciences for $10.8bn

By Rachel Arthur

Merck will acquire Prometheus Biosciences, a San Diego biotech working on a precision medicine approach for developing therapeutics for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases.

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Samsung Ventures invests in Araris Biotech in emerging ADC strategy

By Jonathan Smith

Samsung Ventures, the global investment arm of Samsung Group, has invested an undisclosed amount in the Swiss company Araris Biotech. The deal is independent from Araris’ ongoing Series A fundraising and will be used to bankroll the development of antibody-drug...

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BioNTech and OncoC4 team up on novel checkpoint antibody

By Rachel Arthur

BioNTech and OncoC4 have announced a worldwide license and collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize OncoC4’s next-generation anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody candidate, ONC-392, as monotherapy or combination therapy in various cancer indications....

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Needle-free future: Tackling vaccine delivery challenges

By Jane Byrne

Biotech company, Vaxxas, has secured a partnership agreement with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to advance the development of its needle-free vaccine-patch delivery technology for mRNA vaccines.

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Lumen Bio: ‘We face 2023 with tremendous optimism’

By Jane Byrne

Lumen Bioscience has been highlighting recent progress made on its clinical and regulatory journey while also announcing several funding milestones supporting the development of its therapeutics to prevent serious diarrheal diseases.

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Opus acquires two compounds for inherited retinal diseases

By Jane Byrne

Last week saw Opus Genetics announce it had acquired the rights to two preclinical-stage adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy product candidates for inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) from Iveric Bio.