Inflammation biotech Evommune heads to NYSE with $150M IPO
Evommune is heading to the New York Stock Exchange this morning via a $150 million IPO the inflammation biotech will use to fund a pair of clinical-stage candidates. The Palo…
AstraZeneca drops MASH drug over disappointing phase 2 data
AstraZeneca has ended work on one of its potential drugs for fatty liver disease after viewing disappointing data from a phase 2 study. The U.K.-based pharma had been evaluating the…
Dynavax pays Vaxart $30M for oral COVID-19 vaccine program
Dynavax is paying $30 million upfront for global rights to Vaxart’s investigational oral COVID-19 vaccine, positioning the biotech to see phase 2b data before placing a bigger bet on the…
Judge knocks down Pfizer’s effort to block Novo’s rival bid for Metsera
Amid the rapidly unfolding saga revolving around Metsera, a judge has denied Pfizer’s request to block Novo Nordisk’s buyout bid for the biotech, Bloomberg reports. Delaware Chancery Judge Morgan Zurn…
FTC warns Novo that current Metsera offer structure may violate US merger law
As Novo Nordisk and Pfizer vie for control of Metsera, a new round of takeout proposals has resulted in the obesity biotech declaring Novo’s offer “superior”—even though it has already…
Novo drops oncology ambitions, early-stage MASH prospects in ongoing R&D shake-up
Novo Nordisk is winding down a range of early-stage programs for liver disease, oncology and stem cells as part of the Danish Pharma’s ambitious restructuring. This morning’s third-quarter earnings results…
Lilly pulls out of CNS portion of $960M RIPK1 inhibitor collab with Rigel
Eli Lilly has pulled out of the central nervous system (CNS)-focused portion of a $960 million biobucks deal centered on Rigel Pharmaceuticals’ receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) inhibitors. The deal,…
Novo Nordisk CEO ‘feels’ Danish pharma will bag Metsera at end of Pfizer bidding war
Novo Nordisk’s CEO won’t comment on whether the Danish company will go even higher in its bidding war for Metsera but said the Big Pharma “feels this deal will be…
FDA rejects Biohaven approval request for troriluzole, triggering R&D cost cutting
The FDA has rejected Biohaven’s request for approval of a neurological disorder therapy, prompting the biopharma to reprioritize its pipeline in order to shrink its annual R&D spend by 60%.…
Amgen halts gastric cancer trial after antibody ‘did not meet our standard’ of efficacy, exec says
Following a middling phase 3 readout for gastric cancer candidate bemarituzumab, Amgen has now stopped another phase 1b/3 trial of the molecule, the pharma announced in its third-quarter earnings Nov.…