GreenLight's mRNA vaccine nabs trial OK; Ratio reels in radiotherapy funds
GreenLight Biosciences will test its Covid-19 mRNA vaccine in Rwanda, the biotech said.
The RNA R&D and manufacturing company said the Rwanda FDA gave the go-ahead for a Phase I/II study testing the vaccine as a booster for people who have already been vaccinated against the pandemic virus.
“It is especially important to develop vaccines that are globally affordable and scalable. GreenLight’s efforts to initiate this clinical study in Rwanda show the company’s commitment to support Africa’s goal of affordable vaccine self-sufficiency,” said Mark Dybul, who chairs GreenLight’s scientific advisory board for human health, in a press release.
The move comes a few months after GreenLight laid off 25% of its workforce and reeled in about $109 million in financing. The company is working with CDMO partner Samsung Biologics.
Other plans include a shingles vaccine candidate, with the help of Serum Institute of India; personalized cancer vaccines with EpiVax Therapeutics; crop protection via a pesticide targeted at the Colorado potato beetle; and helping honeybees by going after a destructor mite with a “topical RNA solution.”
Ratio Therapeutics nabs $20 million for radiotherapies
After a $20 million seed round last year, Ratio Therapeutics is back with a Series A of the same size.
The Boston startup will use the proceeds to bankroll radiotherapies for cancer, with partnerships already inked with Bayer and Lantheus Holdings. Ratio will also create diagnostics.
With the new capital, Ratio has runway into 2024, CEO and chairman Jack Hoppin said in a statement.
In conjunction with the financing, Ratio said it added Susan Whoriskey to the board, noting her experiences on the founding executive teams at Vera Therapeutics, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Momenta Pharmaceuticals and Moderna.
Cidara and WuXi expand their pact
The partnership between Cidara Therapeutics and CDMO WuXi will include not only influenza but also oncology.
The duo said Wednesday it will enlist WuXi’s IND-enabling development chops to bring Cidara’s lead oncology drug candidate into the clinic. The asset, dubbed CD421, goes after CD73, which contributes to an influx of an immune cell suppressor known as adenosine around the tumor.
Cidara hopes to move beyond limitations with small molecules and monoclonal antibodies that target CD73. The San Diego biotech’s candidate marries small molecules or peptides to a variant of a human antibody fragment, or Fc.
Deal terms were kept under the hood.
