| | | |   | Hello, everyone. Damian here. A reminder that nominations are due Thursday for STAT Madness, our annual bracketed competition in which colleges, universities, and institutions compete to have their biomedical research named the best innovation of the year. Here are the rules, FAQs, and where to send those nominations. | | | Biotech veterans raise $3 billion for ‘disease-reversal’ company. Just don’t call it ‘longevity’ The brains behind some of biotech’s splashiest recent ventures have reunited to raise $3 billion from investors, planning to create a continent-spanning company that will treat disease by reprogramming the fundamental machinery of human cells.
As STAT’s Matthew Herper reports, the new company is called Altos Therapeutics, and it’s the brainchild of Richard Klausner, founder of the CAR-T cancer company Juno Therapeutics and the liquid biopsy outfit Grail. Joining him is Hans Bishop, who was previously CEO of both, and Hal Barron, chief scientific officer of GlaxoSmithKline, who will lead Altos.
Contrary to speculation, and despite counting billionaires among its investors, Altos is not an effort to confer immortality on the wealthiest people in the world, Klausner said. “We're not an aging company,” he said. “We're certainly not a longevity company. We're a disease-reversal company, by programming cells in a variety of ways to have more optimal resilience.”
Read more. | State schools have investable science, too A bunch of venture capital firms and hedge funds are getting behind a biotech startup with a novel approach to targeting RNA, backing science developed not in the Ivy League but off the turnpike.
As STAT’s Adam Feuerstein reports, the company is called Ceptur Therapeutics, and its work is based on the discoveries of Sam Gunderson, a professor of molecular biology at Rutgers University. As of yesterday, Ceptur has $75 million in Series A financing from a syndicate that includes venBio Partners, Affinity Asset Advisors, and Bristol Myers Squibb.
Ceptur’s Rutgers roots were key to its foundation. Patrick Nosker, a partner at Affinity, took classes from Gunderson as an undergraduate and kept his work in mind after moving to Wall Street. “There’s a big gap in funding because top-tier VC firms tend to all look at the same schools,” Nosker said. “A lot of good science tends to disappear because no one knows it’s there, so we’re trying to take advantage of that.”
Read more. | “Silencing” the expression of disease-causing genes using RNA interference (RNAi) During gene expression, errors in DNA can result in faulty mRNA that cause or contribute to disease. Alnylam’s RNAi therapeutics utilize specially designed small interfering RNA (siRNA) to target and degrade these mRNA, treating disease at source. Learn how. | Belgian pharma UCB to buy Zogenix Belgian drug maker UCB said this morning that it will acquire Zogenix, a U.S.-based biotech with an approved drug for rare childhood seizures, for as much as $1.9 billion. The agreement expands UCB's portfolio of epilepsy treatments.
Under the terms of the deal, Zogenix will be purchased for $26 per share, or 66% higher than Tuesday’s closing price. UCB has also agreed to pay Zogenix shareholders an added payment equal to $2 per share, contingent on the company’s drug, called Fintepla, winning European approval by the end of 2023.
Read more. | A SPAC? In this economy? ProKidney, a North Carolina company developing cell therapies for renal disease, is suddenly worth about $2.6 billion after signing a merger agreement with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
Yesterday's announcement includes some bold-print proper nouns (ProKidney’s founders include Royalty Pharma CEO Pablo Legorreta; the SPAC belongs to famed investor Chamath Palihapitiya), but it doesn’t address an obvious question: Why do a blank-check deal now?
Of the more than 600 SPACs launched last year, the majority have destroyed shareholder value, according to data from SPACInsider. Biotech’s biggest SPACs have dramatically underperformed, with Roivant Sciences down about 30% from its initial price and Ginkgo Bioworks losing almost 50% of its value since September. | Just because biotech stocks are down doesn’t mean M&A is afoot Going into 2022, biotech companies are trading at two-year lows, and major pharmaceutical firms have massive cash reserves. Such a situation, one would assume, leads to a spike in dealmaking, as wealthy multinationals leap to acquire smaller firms that suddenly look like bargains.
But just because a biotech company is cheap doesn’t mean it’s willing to sell. Just ask Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Giovanni Caforio.
Speaking to STAT’s Adam Feuerstein, Caforio acknowledged that “the market has come down and therefore some of the valuations are realigning where we think there is a better opportunity to generate value through a transaction. But “there typically is a lapse between the time the market resets and the time in which boards and management teams reset their expectations,” he said, meaning this winter’s biotech collapse is by no means a guarantee of buyouts to come.
Read more. | More reads - U.S. would seek global approach to updating Covid-19 vaccines, official says. STAT
- Drugmaker Gilead alleges counterfeiting ring sold its HIV drugs. Wall Street Journal
- Ex-pharma CEO aided opioid sales to addicts, U.S. says. Bloomberg
| Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow,  | | | |
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