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AbbVie and Caribou Biosciences Announce Collaboration and License Agreement for CAR-T Cell Products
“We are excited to partner with AbbVie on the development of new CAR-T cell therapies. This collaboration validates Caribou’s differentiated next-generation CRISPR genome editing technologies that provide best-in-class efficiency and specificity,” said Rachel Haurwitz, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Caribou. “We believe AbbVie is an ideal partner for Caribou as we expand upon the number of targets and diseases addressable by our technologies. Genome-edited CAR-T cell therapies hold tremendous potential for patients, and this partnership accelerates our ability to address significant unmet medical need.”
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4D pharma, Merck and Pfizer to evaluate MRx0518 in combination with BAVENCIO® for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma
“With this second clinical trial collaboration for MRx0518 with a leading immune checkpoint inhibitor, 4D is able to evaluate MRx0518 in a new combination and earlier treatment setting. Following the promising data already generated in combination with checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab in refractory patients, and MRx0518 monotherapy data demonstrating single agent immuno-modulation presented last year at SITC, this collaboration allows us to continue to build a broad understanding of the safety and efficacy of MRx0518 across a range of solid tumors and stages of disease,” said Duncan Peyton, Chief Executive Officer, 4D pharma. “The combination of MRx0518 with BAVENCIO has the potential to further enhance the positive clinical outcomes achieved by BAVENCIO for the significant number of patients in this treatment setting.”
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BigHat Biosciences raises $19 million in series A funding for automating wet-lab with AI/deep learning to generate high quality next-gen antibodies
BigHat Biosciences (BigHat, San Carlos, CA) announced raising $19 million in series A funding, on 10th February 2021. The investors include lead investor Andreessen Horowitz, along with prior investors 8VC, AME Cloud Ventures, and Innovation Endeavors. The funding was received for its integrated wet-lab and AI/deep learning platform that can manufacture high quality antibodies to scale within days as opposed to months or years by more conventional laboratory approaches.
BigHat’s proprietary platform combines wet-lab cells, which use synthetic biology to produce antibodies discovered in silco, with quality monitoring by AI/deep learning-based program that shortlists antibodies with high structural and functional parameters for the next cycle of in silco fine tuning and antibody production. Reiteration of this AI-guided procedure leads to antibodies with desirable properties of affinity, avidity, solubility etc. to be manufactured to scale against any known/hypothetical antigen. This accelerates candidate discovery and validation, reducing time to enter clinical trials. BigHat established proof of concept by producing a highly neutralizing antibody to SARS-CoV-2 using its platform. For this, it has received the ‘Amgen’s Golden Ticket to MBC BioLabs’ that grants it free access to laboratory space and to Amgen’s experts in science and business.
The newly acquired capital will be used to expand the in-house team to recruit experts in antibody, protein and AI/ML engineering, as well as, computational biologists. The money will also be used to advance their internal pipeline towards clinical trials.
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Sandoz acquires GSK’s cephalosporin antibiotics in a $500 million deal
As announced on 11th February 2021, Sandoz (Novartis Div; HQ: Basel, Switzerland) signed an agreement worth $500 million with GSK (HQ Brentford, UK), to acquire GSK’s cephalosporin antibiotics business, which includes 3 key brands- Zinnat®, Zinacef® and Fortum®. This move strengthens Sandoz’s commitment to the antibiotics area of pharmaceuticals.
According to the terms, Sandoz will pay GSK $350 million upon closing of the deal, which is expected to take place by second half of 2021. There will be further $150 million in (undisclosed) milestone payments. The deal is contingent on mutually agreed conditions, including regulatory approvals. Sandoz will acquire global rights to the antibiotics, including Zinnat®, Zinacef® and Fortum®, in 100 worldwide markets, barring for those brands that were previously off-loaded by GSK in US, Australia and Germany. GSK will retain rights in India, Pakistan, Egypt, Japan and China.
GSK will also be supplying Zinnat® to Sandoz under a manufacturing and supply agreement (MSA), till 4 years after deal closure. Sandoz is planning to step up the manufacturing of Zinnat® at its production facilities in Kundl, Austria.
Zinnat® is an orally bioavailable prodrug to the cephalosporin antibiotic, cefuroxime (a beta lactamase resistant broad-spectrum antibiotic). The combined annual sales (2020) of Zinnat®, Zinacef® and Fortum® was ~ $140 million.
“Cephalosporins are the largest antibiotic segment by global sales and acquiring this leading business, including the established global Zinnat® brand, will complement our #1 position in generic penicillins, the other key segment. It will also set us up for additional synergies driven by an increased promotional footprint that will support growth of both the acquired brands and the current existing Sandoz portfolio.”- Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor.
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