Financing

Public Company Edition: NewAmsterdam grossed $328m in its SPAC merger, while Liminatus may raise up to $316m in a new SPAC deal. Also, Intellia and Iveric grossed $300m each in follow-on offerings, bluebird sold a PRV for $102m and MEI ends zandelisib development resulting in layoffs.

The UK firm has announced an extension of its series C financing which means it has raised just shy of $150m in the last 18 months to fund clinical development, manufacturing scale-up and preparations for the potential commercialization of opelconazole.

Pfizer is betting big on its manufacturing plans in Europe, investing €1.2bn at respective sites in Ireland and Belgium to prepare for a number of launches it has lined up in the short term.

Leading the group were Trinomab Biotech, which develops antibodies for infectious diseases, and cell and gene developers BRL Medicine and XellSmart.

VC Investment in South Korea’s biopharma sector drops again as investors continue to shy away amid higher interest rates and reduced out-licensing deals.

Private Company Edition: In the latest round of $100m-plus venture capital financings, CG Oncology, MBX Biosciences and Jnana Therapeutics raised $120m, $115m and $107m, respectively. Also, MVM Partners closed a $500m fund and former Sage CEO leads incubator ABio-X in Massachusetts.

The French firm’s late-stage trial of its gene therapy candidate for Sanfilippo syndrome missed several endpoints but promising data from a cohort of young infants could help pave a way forward - if it can get more cash.

Leaders from three companies that have managed to achieve successful turnarounds offered some advice and encouragement to biotechs weathering the current financial downturn at the recent Jefferies Healthcare conference in London.

In this week's podcast edition of Five Must-Know Things: a market snapshot of inflammatory bowel disease; will biotech bounce back in 2023?; Phase III miss for Roche’s Alzheimer’s candidate; how Japan’s top firms did in the quarter; and China showcase hints at policies and strategies.

Shanghai’s biopharma sector has started to regain momentum and is beginning to see its innovation bets paying off, with support from the local government.

Public Company Edition: Acrivon launched the 20^th biopharma IPO in the US for 2022. Also, Q3 updates reveal job cuts at Tricida, Harpoon, Neoleukin and more; APIM Therapeutics will reverse merge with Nordic Nanovector; plus other follow-on offerings, royalty deals and a sale-leaseback. 

Industry investors foresee continued hardship for public companies still without compelling clinical data for their assets, plus the growing influence of the US Inflation Reduction Act on biopharma strategy.