January 9, 2019 08:57 AM EST

How to build a biotech unicorn: Get the star team in place, attract deep-pocket VCs, paint a big picture and raise up to $1B

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

When Steve Harr sketched out the barebones essentials of his strategic plan for the new cell therapy company Sana Biotechnology a few days ago, he was careful to steer clear of detailing his exact plans for his first big raise for the biotech. But some numbers have been starting to appear — and not surprisingly they paint a picture of a young unicorn still at foal stage.

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January 28, 2023 07:15 AM EST

Weekly

Late Friday approval; Trio of biotechs wind down; Stem cell pioneer finds new frontier; Biotech icon to retire; and more

Amber Tong

Senior Editor

Welcome back to Endpoints Weekly, your review of the week’s top biopharma headlines. Want this in your inbox every Saturday morning? Current Endpoints readers can visit their reader profile to add Endpoints Weekly. New to Endpoints? Sign up here.

I hope your weekend is off to a nice start, wherever you are reading this email. As for me, I’m trying to catch the tail of the Lunar New Year festivities.

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January 27, 2023 10:30 AM ESTUpdated 02:20 PM

People

Pharma

Pfizer lays off employees at California and Connecticut sites

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

Pfizer has laid off employees at its La Jolla, CA, and Groton, CT sites, according to multiple LinkedIn posts from former employees.

The Big Pharma confirmed to Endpoints News it has let go of some employees, but a spokesperson declined to specify how many workers were impacted and the exact locations affected. Earlier this month, the drug developer had confirmed to Endpoints it was sharpening its focus and doing away with some early research on areas such as rare disease, oncology and gene therapies.

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Rodney Rietze, iVexSol CEO

January 27, 2023 04:11 PM EST

Financing

Pharma

Manufacturing

Bristol Myers, Charles River join Series A funding for iVexSol

Tyler Patchen

News Reporter

Massachusetts-based iVexSol has secured funding to the tune of $23.8 million in its latest Series A round. The new investors include Bristol Myers Squibb, manufacturer Charles River Laboratories and Asahi Kasei Medical.

iVexSol is a manufacturer of lentiviral vectors (LVV), used in making gene therapies, and this latest round of fundraising brings its total Series A total over $39 million, which will be used to recruit more employees and bolster its technology.

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Jake Van Naarden, Loxo@Lilly CEO

January 27, 2023 03:19 PM EST

R&D

Pharma

Lilly enters ripe BTK field with quick FDA nod in mantle cell lymphoma

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

Eli Lilly has succeeded in its attempt to get the first non-covalent version of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase, or BTK, inhibitors to market, pushing it past rival Merck.

The FDA gave an accelerated nod to Lilly’s daily oral med, to be sold as Jaypirca, for patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma.

The agency’s green light, disclosed by the Indianapolis Big Pharma on Friday afternoon, catapults Lilly into a field dominated by covalent BTK inhibitors, which includes AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson’s Imbruvica, AstraZeneca’s Calquence and BeiGene’s Brukinsa.

Tony Johnson, Goldfinch Bio CEO (Goldfinch via YouTube)

January 27, 2023 02:23 PM ESTUpdated 02:59 PM

People

Startups

Kidney disease drugmaker Goldfinch Bio shuts down

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

Goldfinch Bio, attempting to make treatments for kidney diseases and diabetic nephropathy, is shutting down.

President and CEO Tony Johnson confirmed to Endpoints News Friday afternoon that the biotech shut down after “fundraising challenges in the current macro-environment.” Fierce Biotech first reported the news.

Johnson, who joined in 2017 after a stint as SVP of early clinical development at AstraZeneca, said in a text that the company “entered the ABC process recently,” referring to an assignment for the benefit of the creditors, which provides a different wind-down avenue than a bankruptcy.

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Filip Dubovsky, Novavax CMO

January 27, 2023 02:12 PM ESTUpdated 02:48 PM

Pharma

FDA+

Novavax gets ready to take another shot at Covid vaccine market with next season plans

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

While mRNA took center stage at yesterday’s FDA vaccine advisory committee meeting, Novavax announced its plans to deliver an updated protein-based vaccine based on new guidance.

Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) members voted unanimously in favor of “harmonizing” Covid vaccine compositions, meaning all future vaccine recipients would receive a bivalent vaccine, regardless of whether they’ve gotten their primary series.

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Eliot Forster, F-star CEO (Rachel Kiki for Endpoints News)

January 27, 2023 07:10 AM EST

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