Taysha gains control of GAN candidate and program; BI licenses COMT inhibitors from Lieber Institute; plus three new gene therapy-driven tie-ups between biopharma and academia.

In tandem with Roivant, Cincinnati Children’s launches spinout Aruvant focused on hematologic disorders and separately teams with BridgeBio on genetic disease therapies. Roivant spinout Axovant licenses gene therapy candidates from University of Massachusetts.

Vanderbilt launches new biotech with Deerfield aimed at reworking the drug development paradigm, while also expanding its cancer research work with BI. Grunenthal partners with Katholieke Universiteit Leuven to investigate ion channel modulation approaches in pain.

Immuno-oncology has significant diagnostic needs including identifying patients most likely to respond to therapies. Current diagnostic approaches often fall short, due in large part to the complexity of the biology driving therapy responsiveness. As such, the biopharma industry is exploring many emerging approaches covering tumor, immune and even microbiome-related pathways and biomarkers.