Finally freed from the restraints of a partial FDA clinical hold on its lead HER2-positive solid tumor candidate, Pieris Pharmaceuticals is now racing toward Phase II.

The FDA slapped a partial hold on Pieris’ PRS-343 back in July, restricting the biotech from enrolling new patients in a Phase I trial. While Pieris was allowed to continue dosing patients who were already enrolled, the agency requested they conduct an additional “in-use and compatibility study” before recruiting any more.

It’s time for a new FDA commissioner to come on board, a rite of passage for Joe Biden’s administration that should help seal the new president’s rep on seeking out the experts to lead the government over the next 4 years.

As of now, the competition for the top job appears to have narrowed down to 2 people: The longtime CDER chief Janet Woodcock and Joshua Sharfstein, the former principal deputy at the FDA under Peggy Hamburg. Both were appointed by Barack Obama.

Two weeks after joining Verastem Oncology as chief medical officer, Frank Neumann is leaving the company for another job.

Neumann had joined Verastem after leaving bluebird bio, which surprisingly split into two companies last week, one in oncology and one in rare diseases. It’s not yet clear to where Neumann is headed next, but he noted in a statement that Verastem’s data and strategy were “truly exciting.”

A month after filing the IND application for its human extracellular matrix designed to regenerate knee cartilage, Histogen has hit a roadblock.

The FDA on Tuesday verbally notified the San Diego-based biotech that it was placing a clinical hold on the planned Phase I/II clinical trial of HST-003 due to pending CMC information and additional questions needed to complete their review.

Histogen had planned to test the safety and efficacy of implanting hECM within microfracture interstices and related cartilage defects to regenerate that cartilage in conjunction with a microfracture procedure. The company said in a press release that it expects to receive written notice of the clinical hold from the FDA by Feb 12.

Gritstone Oncology has had a big week, and it’s only Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the biotech revealed plans to start clinical testing of an experimental Covid-19 vaccine — in tandem with NIAID — that can also target other coronaviruses, with the goal of preventing future pandemics should SARS-CoV-2 prove difficult to cure with current vaccines. Then, on Wednesday morning, Gritstone licensed lipid nanoparticle technology from Genevant Sciences to develop what it’s calling “self-amplifying RNA vaccines” against Covid-19.

After a record year for biotech IPOs in 2020, forecasts were bullish on another strong year showing for public offerings — and 2021 hasn’t disappointed so far. Now, a clutch of four biotechs chasing rare disease and cancer and a New York SPAC are ready to join the party.

Three more companies filed to head to Nasdaq on Tuesday, as well as a SPAC, with an additional Dutch biotech filing Friday. All in all, early days indicate another big year, at least to start, with 12 companies either pricing or filing their IPOs in the first 20 days of January.