Contrary to a common misperception in the industry, GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) still has big plans in the burgeoning field of cancer drug R&D. And one of the pharma giant’s top cancer drug R&D execs says Glaxo is ready to strike new deals to beef up the pipeline as it considers rebuilding a late-stage research effort and […]
Juno Therapeutics ($JUNO) and AstraZeneca ($AZN) are joining forces to test their respective cancer treatments in tandem, combining newfangled therapies that promise to use the immune system to combat tumors. Under the deal, the pair will jointly fund a Phase I study combining one of Juno’s so-called CAR-T therapies and pair it with promising antibody […]
Biotech venture capitalists have increasingly embraced the virtual model, seeding companies with promising assets, tiny staffs and a willingness to outsource. Now, as Reuters notes, a recent Big Pharma buyout signals that the idea is gaining steam among larger players. XO1, an Index Ventures-backed virtual outfit, became Johnson & Johnson’s ($JNJ) latest takeout target last […]
A Dutch immuno-oncology player that has received venture funding from Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ), Novartis ($NVS) and Pfizer ($PFE) is preparing to list on Nasdaq. The company–Merus–hopes to raise upward of €100 million ($107 million) to advance its pipeline of bispecific IgG antibodies into the clinic and through early-phase trials. Merus CEO Ton Logtenberg Utrecht, […]
Tailor-made cancer vaccines that target unique genetic errors in a patient’s tumour have been developed in the US. Safety tests on three people, published in the journal Science, showed the immune system could be trained to fight skin cancers. The American team say the early results mark a “significant step” towards personalised cancer vaccines. The […]
Novartis ($NVS), a leader among companies using the immune system to fight cancer, is betting up to $750 million on a promising therapeutic approach from Aduro Biotech, widening its arsenal of potential treatments. And the pharma giant coupled the deal with the announcement that it recruited Dana Farber’s Glenn Dranoff to run a new in-house […]