The two RNAi firms cross-license IP from their PH programs, while also partnering on a rare liver disease candidate. GSK invests $250m in Vir and will help to advance its antibody candidates for COVID-19.

Gilead lands on Second Genome as its first partner to apply microbiome analysis to pipeline assets to look for biomarkers. Companies also team up on GI drug discovery.

Industry interest in the development of microbiome modulators is noticeably increasing worldwide. In South Korea, KoBioLabs is leading the charge to microbiome drug development, helped by a sizable database and biobank. Its founder and CEO GwangPyo Ko talked to Scrip about its core technology, pipeline progress, and general strategy.

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.