Shang­hai biotech Ori­cell has raised an ad­di­tion­al $45 mil­lion to bankroll its pre­clin­i­cal and ear­ly-stage can­cer cell ther­a­pies, it an­nounced Tues­day morn­ing.

Fol­low­ing a show­ing at AS­CO last year with a GPRC5D-di­rect­ed CAR-T ther­a­py for mul­ti­ple myelo­ma, Ori­cell raised a $120 mil­lion Se­ries B in Ju­ly. The lat­est raise is an ex­ten­sion of that round, and was led by RTW In­vest­ments and Qatar In­vest­ment Au­thor­i­ty, fol­lowed by ex­ist­ing in­vestors Qim­ing Ven­ture Part­ners and C&D Emerg­ing In­dus­try Eq­ui­ty In­vest­ment.

The biotech said that new­ly raised mon­ey would pri­mar­i­ly be put to­wards clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment in the US.

Ori­cell is work­ing on a num­ber of CAR-T ther­a­pies and sol­id tu­mor an­ti­body can­di­dates. In the Phase I tri­al pre­sent­ed at AS­CO, a group of pa­tients with treat­ment-re­sis­tant mul­ti­ple myelo­ma had a 100% over­all re­sponse rate and 60% strin­gent com­plete re­sponse to Ori­cell’s GPRC5D-di­rect­ed CAR-T.

In par­tic­u­lar, Ori­cell high­light­ed a group of five pa­tients who had al­ready re­ceived BC­MA CAR-T ther­a­py. Two achieved strin­gent com­plete re­sponse, two had “very good par­tial re­sponse,” and one had a par­tial re­sponse, the com­pa­ny said. And with a me­di­an fol­low-up rang­ing from 35 to 281 days, all were pro­gres­sion-free at the cut­off date at AS­CO.

Ori­cell said it hopes to ex­pand the tri­al for its GPRC5D-di­rect­ed CAR-T ther­a­py to the US, where it’s cur­rent­ly in the IND-en­abling phase.

In ad­di­tion, Ori­cell has a GPC3-di­rect­ed CAR-T cell ther­a­py called Ori-C101, which it’s study­ing in ad­vanced he­pa­to­cel­lu­lar car­ci­no­ma.

Microcap biotech Seelos Therapeutics is halting enrollment of its study in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (also known as Machado-Joseph disease) because of “financial considerations,” and in order to focus on other studies, the company said today, adding that the pause would be temporary.

The study will continue with the patients who have already enrolled, and the data from them will be used to decide whether to continue enrolling others in the future.

Paul McKenzie took over as CEO of Australian pharma giant CSL this month, following in the footsteps of long-time CSL vet Paul Perreault.

With an eye on mRNA, and quickly commercializing its new, $3.5 million-per-shot gene therapy for hemophilia B, McKenzie and chief medical officer Bill Mezzanotte answered some questions from Endpoints News this afternoon about where McKenzie is going to take the company and what advances may be coming to market from CSL’s pipeline. Below is a lightly edited transcript.

The government of the United Kingdom is giving out grants to several manufacturers that have a presence in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The government announced that four companies, including Ipsen, contract manufacturer Pharmaron, DNA manufacturer Touchlight and diagnostic test producer Randox, will receive a total of £277 million ($341.1 million). According to a release from the UK government, this represents the first portion of grants from the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund.

A company with public links to Sanofi and Moderna has raised more money to expand its mission of improving diversity and enrollment in clinical trials.

Inato put the word out on Wednesday that it raised $20 million via an A2 round to advance its matching platform between pharma companies and potential clinical trial sites.

Inato CEO Kourosh Davarpanah told Endpoints News that with the $20 million in hand, it will pursue improvements to its diversity offerings, its focus on oncology and data collection.