In a leap to the gene therapy space, Daiichi Sankyo has dropped $200 million to access Ultragenyx’s manufacturing technology, providing the rare disease biotech with plenty of cash and a stock boost amid a general cash crunch.

For $125 million in cash and a $75 million equity investment, Daiichi Sankyo has bought a non-exclusive license to the IP around two platforms with which it plans to develop AAV-based gene therapy products. The Japanese pharma is purchasing the stock $RARE at $60 per share, more than a third above its current price of $44.43.

Gilead’s bid to overturn a jury verdict that ordered it to pay Bristol Myers Squibb about $752 million for CAR-T patents owned by its subsidiary Juno Therapeutics has ended in vain.

The ruling leaves Gilead vulnerable to an even bigger $1.5 billion payment that Bristol is now demanding — adding fuel to the fiery criticism some analysts are already heaping on its $11.9 billion Kite buyout.

In a 30-page document unsealed on Monday, Judge James Otero of the district court in Los Angeles struck down several different arguments for a new decision. Here are Morgan Stanley analysts’ takeaways:
The court, in particular, denied Kite’s contentions (1) that Juno’s patent is invalid, (2) the damages award was unreasonable, and (3) that a new trial should take place. The court also denied Kite’s argument that its infringement was not willful.
Gilead is likely to appeal to the federal circuit, they noted, but the odds are not in their favor as the same standard for evidence will be applied in that court. Appeals typically take 16 months.

Scientists began with making recombinant versions of naturally-occurring human proteins, then graduated to monoclonal antibodies. Now, rather than replicating moieties within the body, researchers are modifying these molecules to have precise biology in a functional manner.

This technology, referred to as bispecific antibodies, is already being employed to fight cancer. In early 2018, Pandion Therapeutics was born to reverse-engineer the science into the realm of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders.

Using lab-grown proteins that are engineered to mimic the architecture of viruses to induce an immune response, VBI Vaccines is joining the hunt for a coronavirus vaccine — harnessing technology that has initially been proved safe in early trials as a prophylactic for cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection.

Unlike the raft of the companies in the Covid-19 vaccine race — including Moderna, CureVac and J&J — VBI is taking a pan-coronavirus approach, by developing a vaccine that will encompass Covid-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

VCs love few things more than a proven executive team when it comes to launching a new company. And now a group of A-listers has turned to a pair of top execs out of AveXis to steer the latest gene therapy player into the clinic.

The biotech is Waltham, MA-based Affinia and the two execs are Sean Nolan and Rick Modi — the former CEO and CBO respectively of AveXis, the gene therapy pioneer that fetched $8.7 billion in a sale to Novartis. Nolan has now taken the chairman’s role at Affinia while Modi moves up to the CEO post at the company.