Sarkis Maz­man­ian

What kind of re­la­tion­ship ex­ists be­tween the gut mi­cro­bio­me and dis­eases of the brain? A new start­up called Ax­i­al Bio­ther­a­peu­tics has set out to find some an­swers, with $19.15 mil­lion in ven­ture back­ing.

Cal­tech pro­fes­sor Sarkis Maz­man­ian has pro­vid­ed much of the in­spi­ra­tion for the biotech. His lab has pub­lished re­search on an­i­mal stud­ies that es­tab­lished a link be­tween the pop­u­la­tion of tiny mi­crobes in your body and the course of autism spec­trum dis­or­ders. And the biotech plans to take that work in­to the clin­ic in search of new drugs that can treat some ter­ri­ble, and dif­fi­cult-to-treat, dis­eases.

Long­wood Fund and Do­main As­so­ci­ates led the round, with ad­di­tion­al cash com­ing from a syn­di­cate that in­cludes Kairos Ven­tures, Her­itage Med­ical Sys­tems and a group of high net worth in­di­vid­u­als based in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia.

David H. Don­abe­di­an, Ax­i­al

“There is mount­ing ev­i­dence that the gut mi­cro­bio­me is im­pli­cat­ed in brain de­vel­op­ment and neu­ro­log­i­cal health and we be­lieve we are at the fore­front of gen­er­at­ing new av­enues for mi­cro­bio­me-tar­get­ed ther­a­peu­tic in­ter­ven­tions in mul­ti­ple neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­eases and dis­or­ders, in­clud­ing ASD and Parkin­son’s Dis­ease,” says David H. Don­abe­di­an, a Long­wood part­ner that it now CEO of Ax­i­al.

The mi­cro­bio­me has been a new ter­ri­to­ry for com­pa­ny cre­ation in the past cou­ple of years, though it’s al­so be­gun to ex­pe­ri­ence some set­backs.

The Cam­bridge, MA-based Seres is one of sev­er­al mi­cro­bio­me play­ers to set up shop in the Boston biotech scene, where Ax­i­al is sink­ing new roots. Not far from their base you can al­so find Vedan­ta and Syn­log­ic, while out in San Fran­cis­co, Sec­ond Genome is promis­ing to make its own mi­cro­bial waves. And in New York Kally­ope is al­so prob­ing the gut-brain ax­is.

Seres is among the first to start gath­er­ing hu­man da­ta, and it had the first ex­po­sure to a fail­ure has shak­en the faith in the sec­tor. In­vestors, though, see this as a new way to grow up a cre­ative crop of new drugs. And Ax­i­al is hop­ing to be in that mix.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommended nine drugs for approval this week while also giving thumbs up for six expanded indications, including Novo Nordisk’s approved obesity medication Wegovy for younger people. Wegovy is already approved as an obesity treatment in the EU for adults, and the new indication would allow prescriptions for adolescents aged 12 and older.

RNA biotech GreenLight Biosciences has been handed an offer for potential acquisition.

GreenLight said in a release that it has received a non-binding “indication of interest” from Fall Line Endurance Fund to acquire GreenLight’s capital stock for $0.60 per share in cash. The release said any potential agreement between the two parties would depend on certain conditions.

Through a special committee, the biotech will evaluate the offer but added there’s no certainty a deal will go forward. GreenLight will also not make any more announcements until a deal comes through or “otherwise determines” a statement is necessary.

A public T cell biotech’s chief executive has decided to leave the company.

TScan Therapeutics said Friday morning that CEO David Southwell stepped down earlier this week, leaving both his chief executive and board member roles. Filling in is Gavin MacBeath, the company’s CSO and COO. He became the acting CEO on Tuesday, and will continue to remain CSO and COO, TScan’s announcement read.

The German life science group Sartorius will be picking up French contract manufacturer Polyplus for the price of €2.4 billion, or $2.6 billion.

On Friday, Sartorius announced the acquisition through its French subgroup, Sartorius Stedim Biotech, which will be acquiring Polyplus from private investors ARCHIMED and WP GG Holdings IV. Polyplus has 270 employees and produces materials and components that go into making viral vectors that are used in cell and gene therapies. This includes DNA/RNA reagents as well as plasmid DNA. Polyplus has locations in France, Belgium, China and the US.