Pfiz­er is bankrolling a new on­colyt­ic virus start­up, tak­ing a 50% stake in the can­cer drug out­fit while hold­ing an op­tion to buy it if the founders ap­pear to be on the right R&D track.

The up­start is Ig­nite Im­munother­a­py, based in Alame­da, CA, which is be­ing launched by a group of ex­pe­ri­enced on­colyt­ics hands. Berke­ley ad­junct pro­fes­sor David Kirn, the CEO of 4D Mol­e­c­u­lar Ther­a­peu­tics, is the co-founder, along with Berke­ley’s Dave Schaf­fer.

Doug Hana­han, di­rec­tor of the Swiss In­sti­tute for Can­cer Re­search, is al­so count­ed as a co-founder, while Pfiz­er re­search ex­ec James Mer­son joins the board.

Pfiz­er is al­so pay­ing for the R&D work at the com­pa­ny over the next three years, as Ig­nite looks to jump in­to a wave of up and com­ing biotechs where are hur­ry­ing along next-gen on­colyt­ic vac­cines aim­ing at sur­pass­ing the pi­o­neer­ing Im­ly­g­ic (T-Vec), mar­ket­ed by Am­gen. A bunch of these star­tups are pair­ing up with check­point in­hibitors, a fact that wasn’t lost on Pfiz­er as it seeks the 4th OK of a check­point drug.

It’s a hot and hap­pen­ing field. Boehringer just inked a $230 mil­lion deal to part­ner with Vi­raTher­a­peu­tics. And the start­up will join ri­vals like PsiOxus. Philip Ast­ley-Sparke, who helmed BioVex be­fore Am­gen bought it up for T-Vec, co-found­ed Replimune, an­oth­er next-gen on­colyt­ic virus play­er. Mitchell Fin­er, the for­mer CSO at blue­bird bio, took the helm at the up­start On­corus, which just raised a $57 mil­lion ven­ture round and is us­ing a her­pes sim­plex virus for their work on glioblas­toma. And Duke Uni­ver­si­ty’s Dr. Matthias Gromeier has ge­net­i­cal­ly en­gi­neered his virus to keep it fo­cused on can­cer, and away from healthy tis­sues.

Facing the big dogs in the PD-(L)1 space, AstraZeneca has taken its own contender Imfinzi into blockbuster territory in its four years on the market but sees even bigger things for the drug. Combinations could be the key, and early results from a mid-stage test are adding some fuel to that strategy.

Imfinzi combined with one of two investigational immunotherapies — a CD73 antibody dubbed oleclumab or an Innate’s anti-NGK2a named monalizumab — topped Imfinzi alone in terms of overall response and progression-free survival in patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors had not worsened during concurrent chemoradiation, according to interim data from the Phase II COAST trial set to be presented at #ESMO21.

One Spanish biotech is beefing up its plasma therapy operations, and on Friday, it announced that it’s doing so in a billion-dollar deal.

Grifols is now the largest shareholder of Biotest, a company valued at more than $1.8 billion. By teaming up, the two will try to increase the number of plasma therapies available and increase patient access around the world, Grifols said in a press release.

The company did so by acquiring holding company Tiancheng Pharmaceutical, the Germany-based owner of nearly 90% of Biotest shares, for nearly $1.27 billion. Grifols now owns nearly 90% of Biotest voting rights and almost 45% of the total share capital of Biotest.

The FDA released briefing documents this week from the agency and Pfizer each outlining their arguments for today’s Covid-19 booster shot adcomm, but one thing conspicuously missing was the question on which panel members would be voting. But late Thursday night, regulators published that question.

Adcomm members will be asked whether or not the safety and efficacy data from Pfizer/BioNTech’s original Phase III study “support approval” of a booster shot at least six months after the second dose in individuals older than 16. The question notably excludes the real-world data from Israel and other analyses that Pfizer and the Biden administration had said would be a centerpiece of their arguments for boosters.

→ Last week we told you about the CMO revolving door at ADC Therapeutics, as Joseph Camardo replaced the departing Jay Feingold. The next opportunity for Feingold in the CMO slot has opened up at antibody-drug conjugate and mAb developer Pyxis Oncology, which has added several new execs and scientific advisory board members in recent months, including ex-Immunovant CFO Pamela Yanchik Connealy. Before his tenure at ADC, Feingold was Daiichi Sankyo’s VP of US medical affairs and chairman of the Global Medical Affairs Oversight Committee. Within weeks in March, Pyxis struck a licensing deal with Pfizer for two of its ADCs and raked in $152 million from a Series B round.