Bob Cuddihy, Capsida
April 29, 2021 05:15 AM EDT
Startups

A new gene ther­a­py play­er de­buts in LA with 2 start­up VCs at its back, Ab­b­Vie on board with a $90M cash up­front and big plans to up­end the field

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

These days, news of a biotech breaking out of stealth mode with a healthy launch round is not all that unusual. But Capsida just might surprise you in all sorts of ways.

Backed by 2 VCs that arrived at the same CalTech scientist’s lab at about the same time, the biotech is debuting with $50 million from the investors as well as a $90 million upfront deal with AbbVie — a remarkable amount of cash for an upstart still doing discovery work. The alliance puts the pharma giant back in play in gene therapy after exiting a similar deal last year. And it gives Beth Seidenberg at Westlake Village BioPartners — allied with Versant on this startup on the $50 million A round — an important brick in the wall for the LA biotech hub she’s helping create with her new fund.

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SPONSORED
May 17, 2021 06:00 AM EDT

Mov­ing Out of the Clin­ic with Dig­i­tal Tools: Mo­bile Spirom­e­try Dur­ing COVID-19 & Be­yond

Koneksa

An important technology in assessing lung function, spirometry offers crucial data for the diagnosis and monitoring of pulmonary system diseases, as well as the ongoing measurement of treatment efficacy. But trends in the healthcare industry and new challenges introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic are causing professionals in clinical practice and research to reevaluate spirometry’s deployment methods and best practices.

Paul Hudson (Getty Images)
May 17, 2021 01:36 AM EDTUpdated 06:08 AM
R&D
Coronavirus

Sanofi, Glax­o­SmithK­line jump back in­to the PhI­II race for a Covid vac­cine — as the win­ners con­gre­gate be­hind the fin­ish line

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Amber Tong

Senior Editor

Sanofi got out early in the race to develop a vaccine using more of a traditional approach, then derailed late last year as their candidate failed to work in older people. Now, after likely missing the bus for the bulk of the world’s affluent nations, they’re back from that embarrassing collapse with a second attempt using GSK’s adjuvant that may get them back on track — with a potential Q4 launch that the rest of the world will be paying close attention to.

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Matt Gline (L) and Vivek Ramaswamy
May 17, 2021 07:37 AM EDT
Financing
Bioregnum

In­sid­er ac­count of Roivan­t's SPAC deal — and that $7.3B val­u­a­tion — re­veals a few se­crets as Matt Gline po­si­tions the com­pa­ny as the new ‘Big Phar­ma’

It was Oct. 7, 2020, and Matt Gline wasn’t wasting any time.

The CEO of Roivant had word that KKR vet Jim Momtazee’s SPAC had priced late the night before, triggering a green light for anyone interested in pursuing a big check for future operations and riding the financial instrument to Nasdaq. So he wrote a quick email congratulating Momtazee, whom he knew, for the launch.

Oh, and maybe Momtazee would like to schedule something with Gline and his executive chairman, Roivant founder Vivek Ramaswamy, to chat about Roivant and its business?

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May 17, 2021 01:16 PM EDT
Pharma
FDA+

SCO­TUS de­clines to re­view En­brel biosim­i­lar case, tee­ing up 30+ years of ex­clu­siv­i­ty and $20B more for Am­gen’s block­buster

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

As the House Oversight Committee is set to grill AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez on Tuesday over tactics to block competition for its best-selling drug of all time, another decision on Capitol Hill on Monday opened the door for billions more in Amgen profits over the next eight years.

The Supreme Court on Monday denied Novartis subsidiary Sandoz’s petition to review a Federal Circuit’s July 2020 decision concerning its biosimilar Erelzi (etanercept-szzs), which FDA approved in 2016 as a biosimilar to Amgen’s Enbrel (etanercept). Samsung’s Enbrel biosimilar Eticovo also won approval in 2019 and remains sidelined.

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May 17, 2021 10:41 AM EDT
FDA+
Coronavirus

How to man­u­fac­ture Covid-19 vac­cines with­out the help of J&J, Pfiz­er or Mod­er­na? Bi­ol­yse sees the dif­fi­cul­ties up close

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

When Biolyse, an Ontario-based manufacturer of sterile injectables, forged a deal with Bolivia last week to manufacture up to 50 million J&J Covid-19 vaccine doses, the agreement kicked off what will prove to be a test case for how difficult the system of compulsory licenses is to navigate.

The first problem: When Biolyse asked J&J, via a March letter, to license its Covid-19 vaccine, manufacture it in Canada and pay 5% royalties on shipments to needy, low-income countries, J&J rejected the offer, refusing to negotiate. J&J also did not respond to a request for comment.

Tim Mayleben (L) and Sheldon Koenig (Esperion)
May 17, 2021 09:10 AM EDT
People

On the heels of a sting­ing Q1 set­back, Es­pe­ri­on's long­time cham­pi­on is ex­it­ing the helm and turn­ing the wheel over to a mar­ket­ing pro

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Just days after getting stung by criticism from a badly disappointed group of analysts, there’s a big change happening today at the helm of Esperion $ESPR.

Longtime CEO Tim Mayleben, who championed the company for 9 years from early clinical through a lengthy late-stage drive to successfully get their cholesterol drug approved for a significant niche of patients in the US, is out of the C suite, effective immediately. Sheldon Koenig — hired at the end of 2020 with a resume replete with Big Pharma CV sales experience —  is stepping into his place, promising to right a badly listing commercial ship that’s been battered by market forces.

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May 17, 2021 08:14 AM EDT
R&D
Pharma

No­var­tis' En­tresto takes its 2nd fail­ure of the week­end at ACC, show­ing no ben­e­fit in most dire heart fail­ure pa­tients

Kyle Blankenship

Managing Editor

Novartis’ Entresto started the ACC weekend off rough with a trial flop in heart attack patients, slowing the drug’s push into earlier patients. Now, an NIH-sponsored study is casting doubt on Entresto’s use in the most severe heart failure patients, another black mark on the increasingly controversial drug’s record.

Entresto, a combination of sacubitril and valsartan, could not beat out valsartan alone in an outcomes head-to-head for severe heart failure patients with a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), according to data presented Monday at the virtual American College of Cardiology meeting.

May 17, 2021 08:00 AM EDTUpdated 08:39 AM
Financing
Startups

A T-cell play­er with back­ing from Roche takes next big step for BiTE drugs with 'on-of­f' switch to avoid tox­i­c­i­ty

Kyle Blankenship

Managing Editor

The bispecific T cell engager field is absolutely packed with big-name players who have crowded in despite some high-profile failures in the class. Now, a Bay Area biotech thinks it may have the key to tackling BiTE toxicity, using an old “on-off switch” idea to give doctors more control of the drugs’ effect on patients.

San Francisco-based Soteria Biotherapeutics uncloaked Monday with a $42 million Series A co-led by Roche Venture Fund and 5AM Ventures with participation from the Novartis Venture Fund to advance its bispecific T cell engagers with an “on-off” switch the founders think can avoid some of the dire safety flags endemic to the class.

Michael Dell (Richard Drew, AP Images)
May 13, 2021 09:07 AM EDTUpdated 12:50 PM
Financing
Bioregnum

'Dude, you're get­ting a Del­l' — as a new deep-pock­et biotech in­vestor

What happens when you marry longtime insiders in the global biotech VC game with the family fund of tech billionaire Michael Dell, a synthetic biology legend out of MIT and Harvard and the former director of the NCI?

Today, the answer is a newly financed, $200 million biotech SPAC now cruising the industry for a top player interested in finding a short cut to Nasdaq.

Orion Biotech Opportunities priced their blank check company today, raising $200 million with Dell’s multibillion-dollar MSD group’s commitment on investing another $20 million in a forward-purchase agreement.

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A new gene ther­a­py play­er de­buts in LA with 2 start­up VCs at its back, Ab­b­Vie on board with a $90M cash up­front and big plans to up­end the field

Mov­ing Out of the Clin­ic with Dig­i­tal Tools: Mo­bile Spirom­e­try Dur­ing COVID-19 & Be­yond

Sanofi, Glax­o­SmithK­line jump back in­to the PhI­II race for a Covid vac­cine — as the win­ners con­gre­gate be­hind the fin­ish line

In­sid­er ac­count of Roivan­t's SPAC deal — and that $7.3B val­u­a­tion — re­veals a few se­crets as Matt Gline po­si­tions the com­pa­ny as the new ‘Big Phar­ma’

SCO­TUS de­clines to re­view En­brel biosim­i­lar case, tee­ing up 30+ years of ex­clu­siv­i­ty and $20B more for Am­gen’s block­buster

How to man­u­fac­ture Covid-19 vac­cines with­out the help of J&J, Pfiz­er or Mod­er­na? Bi­ol­yse sees the dif­fi­cul­ties up close

On the heels of a sting­ing Q1 set­back, Es­pe­ri­on's long­time cham­pi­on is ex­it­ing the helm and turn­ing the wheel over to a mar­ket­ing pro

No­var­tis' En­tresto takes its 2nd fail­ure of the week­end at ACC, show­ing no ben­e­fit in most dire heart fail­ure pa­tients

A T-cell play­er with back­ing from Roche takes next big step for BiTE drugs with 'on-of­f' switch to avoid tox­i­c­i­ty

'Dude, you're get­ting a Del­l' — as a new deep-pock­et biotech in­vestor