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What’s in Today’s Brief? (July 6th Preview)
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ADC platform licensing & expansion
Novartis agreed to pay $1.1 billion upfront to acquire UK biotech Myricx Bio, adding an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) payload platform designed to address limitations seen with existing small-molecule payloads. The deal also includes potential milestone payments of up to $400 million, extending Novartis’ recent push into oncology modalities beyond its traditional focus areas. Myricx is developing ADCs that use N-myristoyltransferase inhibitor (NMTi) payloads. Novartis’ rationale is that NMTi payloads could help overcome resistance and broaden ADC utility across multiple solid-tumor targets. Myricx and collaborators report NMTis selectively eliminate senescent cells that can facilitate tumor progression. Preclinical work highlighted programs directed to HER2, TROP2, and B7-H3, with the company selecting B7-H3 and HER2 as lead candidates. Novartis framed the platform as a potential new class of ADC payload—aiming to improve outcomes versus incumbent ADCs or carve out settings where current payloads face bottlenecks.
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Regenerative medicine deal
United Therapeutics agreed to buy Thymmune Therapeutics in a $300 million regenerative medicine transaction aimed at restoring T-cell function using thymic cell therapies derived from iPSCs. The deal includes $140 million upfront and up to $160 million in milestone payments tied to clinical and regulatory progress. Thymmune’s lead program, THY-100, is in preclinical development for congenital athymia, an ultra-rare condition where infants are born without a functioning thymus, leaving them vulnerable to fatal infections. The company reports that its approach converts human induced pluripotent stem cells into thymic cells that mature in vivo to enable a “neo-thymus,” supporting T-cell development. United Therapeutics said the acquisition complements its broader organ-supply strategy and expands its immunomodulatory pipeline, including the UThymoKidney clinical development program. The transaction also signals continued M&A momentum in cell-based immune restoration and organ-alternative platforms.
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Pulmonary fibrosis financing & pivotal trial start
Celea Therapeutics secured $180 million to support a Phase 3 pivotal study for deupirfenidone, an oral small-molecule candidate for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). PureTech Health’s spinout will use the financing to run a head-to-head trial against a standard of care IPF regimen. The pivotal design positions deupirfenidone to compete directly in a market where efficacy and tolerability benchmarks are tightly defined. For investors, the funding provides runway for late-stage execution and potentially accelerates regulatory planning if the program reaches primary endpoints. By focusing on a comparative Phase 3 approach, Celea is aiming to convert prior clinical activity into a clearer value proposition for clinicians and payers confronting IPF’s limited treatment options.
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Late-stage ulcerative colitis momentum after safety reassurances
Abivax shares jumped after newly reported ABTECT Maintenance Part 2 results for obefazimod in adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. In the supplemental portion, 37.2% of induction nonresponders achieved clinical remission and 34.5% achieved endoscopic remission at Week 44 on continued 50 mg treatment. Abivax also reported response recapture in patients escalated to 50 mg after relapse during ABTECT Maintenance Part 1, with clinical remission achieved in 45.5% of that relapsed subgroup. The company said these findings support a practical dose-escalation strategy for regaining and sustaining disease control over time. Importantly for investors, Abivax stated that no new safety signals emerged since earlier disclosures of malignancies in nine patients among 580 enrolled. The updated dataset included four non-melanoma skin cancer cases, attributed to established risk factors, and exposure-adjusted incidence rates for malignancies were said to fall within pre-defined background reference ranges from prior UC studies.
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Biotech VC funding mix in 2026
Cancer- and immune-focused drug developers are dominating early-stage venture capital funding so far in 2026, accounting for more than 40% of both the number of biotech companies and total capital raised, according to BioPharma Dive data. The funding concentration highlights continued investor preference for therapeutics in oncology and immune-mediated diseases. For founders and pipeline teams, the headline signal is that capital allocation is skewing toward disease areas where late-stage benchmarks and biomarker development pathways may be perceived as more established. The data also implies that diversification across other modalities and less crowded indications may require clearer differentiation in science, targets, or patient segmentation.
...and 5 more selected Biotech stories in today’s full edition — or archive.
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