Rick Klausner's Lyell partners, helps fund Eureka's work on cell therapies; Blueprint bounces higher on PhII
Rick Klausner Lyell → Lyell chief Rick Klausner continues to build up his network of companies beavering away at new cell therapies. The GlaxoSmithKline partner led a $45 million E round for Eureka Therapeutics, which is working with engineered T cells on solid tumors. Klausner, a former director of the National Cancer Institute, also founded Juno and Grail. The funding comes with a strategic research collaboration between Eureka and Lyell.
→ Shares of Blueprint Medicines $BPMC bounced higher Tuesday morning after the Cambridge, MA-based biotech reported that their mid-stage study for avapritinib in patients with indolent systemic mastocytosis offered positive data. Blueprint says that at 16 weeks they recorded a significant decline of 30% in patients’ total symptom score. Andrew Berens at SVB Leerink noted: “While we believe Ayvakit in iSM provides another value driver for BPMC shares, we acknowledge the fundamental valuation disconnection from current BPMC shares amid market turmoil.”
→ Welcomed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with open arms, InnoCare has bagged $288 million in its IPO, Reuters reported. The biotech — which has offices across Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Princeton and Boston — has priced its float at the top of the range (HK$8.95), marking the first major IPO to proceed in Hong Kong since the stock market reopened after the Lunar New Year holiday amid coronavirus fears. Most of the new cash will go toward its lead drug, a BTK inhibitor dubbed orelabrutinib; the rest will fund development of other cancer and autoimmune drugs.
