Confo Therapeutics today announces that it has been named by FierceBiotech as one of 2019’s Fierce 15 biotechnology companies, designating it as one of the most promising private biotechnology companies in the industry. Confo Therapeutics is building a portfolio of new medicines based on its proprietary Confo® technology. The technology makes use of antibody fragments or “ConfoBodiesTM” to stabilize G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) in their functional conformation, providing a superior starting point for drug design.
by eazee-designstudio
Themis announced today the closing of a Series D financing round totaling EUR 40 million (USD 44 million). The proceeds from this Series D round will be used to accelerate the company’s pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial program for its Chikungunya vaccine and to support further expansion into oncology indications using its proprietary measles vaccine vector platform. Concurrent with the financing, Dr. Walter Stockinger, Managing Partner at Hadean Ventures, will join Themis’ Supervisory Board.
Adrenomed announced today that its Supervisory Board has appointed two new members of the Executive Board. Dr. Jens Schneider-Mergener is CEO effective August 1, 2019 and Dr. Jens Zimmerman (CMO) joined the Executive Board effective July 1, 2019. Dr. Schneider-Mergener will succeed Dr. Gerald Möller, who is designated to join Adrenomed’s Supervisory Board. Dr. Schneider-Mergener brings more than 25 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, with a proven track record of successfully transforming a research-stage biotech business into a fully-integrated pharmaceutical company.
Immatics and Celgene have entered into a strategic collaboration and option agreement to develop novel adoptive cell therapies targeting multiple cancers. Immatics may develop T-Cell Receptor Engineered T-cell Therapy (TCR-T) programs against solid tumor targets discovered with Immatics’ XPRESIDENT® technology. Programs would utilize proprietary T-Cell Receptors (TCRs) identified by Immatics’ XCEPTOR® TCR discovery and engineering platform. If Immatics develops programs against the TCR-T targets, Immatics will be responsible for the development and validation of these programs through lead candidate stage, at which time Celgene may exercise opt-in rights and assume sole responsibility for further worldwide development, manufacturing and commercialization of the TCR-T-cell therapies.
Themis announced today a research collaboration and exclusive license agreement with MSD for the discovery and development of undisclosed vaccine candidates using Themis’ measles virus vector-based platform. Under the terms of the agreement, Themis will develop vaccine candidates against an undisclosed disease target. MSD will provide research funding and make an equity investment in Themis. In addition, Themis will be eligible to receive development and sales milestone payments up to the potential value of approx. USD 200 million as well as royalties on approved products from the collaboration.
Quanta Dialysis Technologies today announces that it has successfully raised £38 million ($48 million) in a first closing of its Series C funding round. The round was led by a Swiss private family office in combination with btov Partners and co-led by Wellington Partners and Seroba Life Sciences, along with participation from other existing investors. Proceeds will be used to fund the UK commercial launch of SC+ and a 510(k) submission to the FDA later this year.
Immatics today announced that Harpreet Singh has been appointed the Company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Harpreet Singh has most recently been President and CEO of Immatics US and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of the Company, having co-founded Immatics. He has been instrumental in growing the Company from a start-up to a leading player in the field of immuno-oncology.
Confo Therapeutics today announces that it has been awarded a €1.7 million grant from Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO). The grant will run over two years and will support one of the Company’s proprietary pre-clinical programs, targeting a neurological orphan indication. The grant will also support translational biology work by Confo alongside the teams of Prof Patrik Verstreken (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research), Prof Peter de Witte (Molecular Biodiscovery, KU Leuven) and Prof Guy Bormans (Radiopharmaceutical Research, KU Leuven).
Themis and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced a second partnering agreement under which CEPI, with support from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, will provide up to US$21 million of non-dilutive capital for Themis’ Phase 3-ready Chikungunya vaccine (MV-CHIK). The funding will underwrite a collaborative effort to accelerate regulatory approval of Themis’ Chikungunya vaccine and ensure that at-risk populations have access to the vaccine.
SNIPR BIOME today announced that the US Patent & Trademark Office has granted 2 patents covering concepts of shaping patients’ microbiomes to positively influence immuno-oncology therapies. The patents, US10,300,138 and US10,300,139 entitled “Selectively Altering Microbiota for Immune Modulation”, protect the modulation of anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 immunotherapies using CRISPR, TALENs or any other guided nuclease to shape microbiota of patients.
