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Biotech funding and capital formation
AI biotech startup Blank Bio raised a $7.2 million seed round to develop and commercialize RNA foundation models aimed at precision medicine, with an initial focus on oncology. Investors included...
Clinical trials and efficacy readouts
Relay Therapeutics reported Phase 2 efficacy for zovegalisib (RLY-2608) in patients with PIK3CA-driven vascular anomalies, posting a 60% volumetric response. The signal exceeded expectations and...
Phase 3 in obesity and regulatory submissions
Vincentage Pharma said its once-daily oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, VCT-220, met primary endpoints in a pivotal Phase 3 trial in overweight or obese patients in China. The company...
Drug deals and rights acquisitions
Fosun Pharmaceutical secured an option to obtain exclusive rights to Aribio’s oral Phase 3 Alzheimer’s disease therapy, AR-1001, in a deal valued at up to $4.7 billion. Fosun will pay $60 million...
Oncology drug development and trial strategy
Cyclana Bio received UK NHS approval to start its Predicting Endometriosis Mechanisms and Populations (PEMP) observational study aimed at identifying endometriosis biomarkers and druggable...
Company launches, expansions, and tech platforms
EpiCypher and New England Biolabs (NEB) expanded their epigenomics partnership, extending commercialization of CUT&RUN and CUT&Tag workflows. The expanded collaboration now includes CUTANA...
AI in drug discovery and healthcare
DeepMind and Edison Scientific said they are building an “AI scientist,” expanding the push toward autonomous systems that connect hypothesis generation, experimental design, and data...
Diagnostics and translational evidence
Delfi Diagnostics said a cluster-randomized trial found its cfDNA-based FirstLook Lung blood test increased lung cancer screening uptake about threefold versus usual care among patients behind on...
Regulatory approval: first-in-class hypertension therapy
AstraZeneca won a key US regulatory milestone as the FDA approved Baxfendy (baxdrostat), an aldosterone synthase inhibitor, for patients with hypertension that remains inadequately controlled on...
Alzheimer’s licensing deal: Fosun secures AR-1001 option
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical acquired an option to secure exclusive rights to Aribio’s oral phase III-stage Alzheimer’s disease therapy AR-1001 in a deal that can scale to $4.7 billion. Fosun...
Clinical failure: BioMarin’s ENPP1 therapy misses benefit in phase 3
BioMarin reported that its enzyme replacement therapy for ENPP1 deficiency failed to show clinical benefit in a phase 3 study, delivering a setback for the company’s rare disease pipeline. The...
Biotech financing: Degron raises for molecular glue degraders
Degron Therapeutics closed a $40 million Series A extension round to accelerate its molecular glue degraders program. The company said it will advance degraders designed to hit proteins that are...
Clinical update: Relay zovegalisib posts Phase 2 efficacy bar in vascular anomalies
Relay Therapeutics cleared an efficacy benchmark in Phase 2 for zovegalisib, its PI3Kα inhibitor, in patients with vascular anomalies tied to rare genetic disease. The first Phase 2 data readout...
Large licensing tie-up: Daewoong takes Innovo’s oral IBD candidate
Daewoong Pharmaceutical secured an exclusive license to Innovo Therapeutics’ INV-008, an oral 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase inhibitor for inflammatory bowel disease, in a deal valued up to...
Cell and gene therapy trial support: MD Anderson IND clearance for CD94 CAR T
UT MD Anderson received FDA IND clearance to start a Phase I trial of JV-394, a novel CD94-targeted CAR T-cell therapy for patients with relapsed or refractory CD94-positive T-cell and NK-cell...
Diagnostics commercialization: HelioLiver expands with Syneos Health
Helio Genomics partnered with Syneos Health to broaden commercialization of its blood-based HelioLiver test for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma. Financial terms were not disclosed, but...
AI in pharma R&D: Incyte embeds Edison Scientific Kosmos
Incyte expanded its AI strategy by partnering with Edison Scientific to embed Kosmos across drug discovery and development workflows. Edison’s AI scientist Kosmos will be trained on Incyte’s...
Global health emergency: WHO declares Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak a PHEIC
WHO classified the ongoing Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), citing intensifying threat signals...
Regulatory action – FDA hypertension approval (aldosterone synthase inhibitor)
The U.S. FDA approved AstraZeneca’s Baxfendy (baxdrostat) for hypertension in combination with other antihypertensive medications in patients not adequately controlled. The drug is a...
Oncology – Merck’s TROP2 ADC posts first global Phase 3 win in endometrial cancer
Merck’s TROP2 antibody-drug conjugate sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT) secured its first global Phase 3 success ahead of schedule in advanced endometrial cancer, meeting both overall survival and...