Drug Discovery

Visterra closes $46.7m series C financing to advance pipeline of precision antibody-based biological medicines

Visterra has completed a series C financing round raising a total of $46.7m, including a new extension totaling $23.6m.

Ligand to acquire Crystal Bioscience

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has announced the signing of a merger agreement whereby Ligand will acquire Crystal, a leader in avian genetics and the generation of fully-human therapeutic antibodies.

Recursion Pharmaceuticals raises $60m to industrialize drug discovery using artificial intelligence

Recursion Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company that combines innovative biological science with artificial intelligence to discover new therapeutics at scale, is announcing its $60m series B financing led by Data Collective (DCVC).

X-Chem further expands collaboration with Bayer to discover novel medicines

X-Chem and Bayer have further expanded their drug discovery collaboration across multiple therapeutic areas and target classes.

Gilead Sciences completes acquisition of Kite Pharma

Gilead Sciences has announced the completion of the previously announced transaction for Dodgers Merger Sub a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gilead (purchaser), to acquire Kite Pharma, for $180 per share, net to the seller in cash, without interest, or approximately $11.9bn in the aggregate.

Endocyte announces exclusive worldwide license of PSMA-targeted radioligand therapy for development in prostate cancer

Endocyte has announced the completion of an exclusive worldwide license of PSMA-617 from ABX GmbH.

US HHS accelerates development of first Ebola vaccines and drugs

The US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has accelerated the development of first Ebola vaccines and drugs.

Novartis, UC Berkeley collaborate to tackle undruggable disease targets

Novartis has joined forces with researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, to develop new technologies for the discovery of next-generation therapeutics, pursuing the vast number of disease targets in cancer and other illnesses that have eluded traditional small-molecule compounds and are considered undruggable.

Autolus secures $80m series C funding

Autolus, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of next-generation engineered T-cell therapies, announced that it closed on a $80m (£59m) series C financing.