Recent Funding:
NOETIK raises $40M Series A to advance #AI ambitions in cancer. Founded in 2022 by ex-Recursion executives, Noetik came out of stealth last year with a $14 million seed round led by DCVC. The AI bio field is dominated by excitement over making models to design better drugs, taking on tasks like optimizing molecules or creating de novo antibodies; Noetik is instead focusing on clinical translation and figuring out which patients would benefit from a particular drug.
Circle Pharma, Inc. closes $90M Series C. Circle said in July it was seeking to bring in $117 million when the company raised $54 million as part of its Series C round. The money will be used to fund Circle’s cyclin A/B RxL inhibitor, CID-078, in various tumor types.
M&A, Deals, Partnerships:
BridgeBio has debuted its newest venture—GondolaBio, a biopharma startup that will focus its initial efforts on developing therapies for genetic and rare diseases. GondolaBio is armed with $300 million in funding from investors including Viking Global Investors, Patient Square Capital, Sequioa Capital, Frazier Life Sciences, Cormorant Asset Management and Aisling Capital.
HAYA Therapeutics announces a multi-year collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company which will focus on discovering novel regulatory genome targets for obesity & related metabolic conditions using proprietary #RNA platform.
FDA Approvals:
Denali Therapeutics seeks an expedited OK for its Hunter syndrome program, called DNL310, following a years-long debate over whether heparan sulfate can serve as an effective surrogate biomarker for certain neurodegenerative diseases. Denali said that the #FDA agreed that heparan sulfate levels in the cerebrospinal fluid are “reasonably likely to predict” a clinical benefit. Denali also plans to submit data on the neurofilament biomarker that Biogen used to get an #ALS drug approved last year for certain genetic forms of the disease.
Other Interesting News:
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. implements a more focused strategy for its Roctavian hemophilia A gene therapy by recruiting two seasoned pharma executives to bolster its C-suite: Greg Friberg, who was formerly the vice president of global medical affairs for rare diseases at Amgen, will serve as BioMarin’s chief research and development officer, and James Sabry, who was Roche’s former global head of partnering will serve as the biotech’s chief business officer.
Vaxcyte unveiled what analysts called “stunning” phase 1/2 data for its 31-valent pneumococcal #vaccine candidate that, if replicated in a large pivotal study, could pose a serious threat to Pfizer’s stalwart Prevnar 20. The phase 1/2 Prevnar 20 head-to-head data that Vaxcyte revealed for its VAX-31 in adults ages 50 and older are “exceptional” and suggest “a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine category killer profile,” Leerink Partners analysts said in a Tuesday note.
