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Today's Rundown

Featured Story

AbbVie bets $370M on pivotal eye disease gene therapy, puts up $1.4B in biobucks 

AbbVie is betting $370 million on gene therapy. Having dipped its toe into the sector through other deals, AbbVie is now immersing itself through a deal with Regenxbio for eye disease gene therapy RGX-314.

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Top Stories

Everest bags COVID-19 program in bid to conquer Chinese mRNA market

The Chinese mRNA sector is heating up. In the wake of megarounds by its compatriots, Everest Medicines has bought its way into the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine space through a deal with Providence Therapeutics.

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Where are they now? Tracking down 2011’s Fierce 15

While the Fierce Biotech team evaluates the most innovative biotechs worthy of the 2021 Fierce 15, it’s time to check in with the class of 2011.

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Sponsored: Four Steps to Smarter, More Dynamic Deployment

Are you using data and analytics to design smarter campaigns and more effective sales rep deployment?

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AzurRx boosts GI pipeline through First Wave buyout worth up to $229M

AzurRx is bolstering its pipeline and assuming a new name through its acquisition of First Wave Bio. The cash-and-stock deal could be worth up to $229 million and includes future payments if development, regulatory and sales goals are met.

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Bellus offers a scrap of analysis for chronic cough candidate in first-to-market battle with Merck

Bellus Health needed a win for its chronic cough medicine BLU-5937 after dropping a previous round to Merck, and a new, planned interim analysis seems to have given the company what it needs to plan for phase 3.

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Provention will wait for FDA to 'opine' on new data after teplizumab rejection, eyes Q4 for further talks

Provention Bio is being optimistic about the chances of resubmitting the rejected Type 1 diabetes asset teplizumab after the biotech's shares took a battering on the FDA’s recent complete response letter. After scraping through a tough advisory committee in March, the FDA returned a no verdict for approval of the therapy in July.

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4 years after leaving Prime time, Rusty Williams lands a new job leading school of Walking Fish

Hoping to evolve new treatments across the board using B-cell therapies, Walking Fish Therapeutics has nabbed $50 million and a new chief in the form of an industry veteran.

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OrbiMed, Lilly Asia Ventures chip into ADARx's $75M round to take RNA tech into the clinic

OrbiMed Advisors and Lilly Asia Ventures are two key players pouring money into RNA-targeting technology via ADARx Pharmaceuticals’ $75 million series B round. The funding will take the San Diego-based biotech’s growing pipeline of RNA-targeting therapeutics into the clinic, ADARx said in a statement on Wednesday.

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AltruBio snags a CMO after pivot from oncology to immunology

AltruBio has signed a new chief medical officer, five months after a makeover that saw it change its name, its focus and its board. Jesse Hall, M.D., arrives from Sublimity Therapeutics, where he led clinical development for inflammatory bowel disease programs as its chief medical officer.

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The top 10 antibody drug conjugate contenders in 2021

After decades of trial and error, the development of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) is poised for a renaissance. Here are our top picks.

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AI drug hunter Exscientia plans to go public with Nasdaq IPO

The U.K.-based AI developer confidentially filed for a $100 million IPO in late June, though the pricing terms could climb higher.

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Departing FDA officials say it's too soon for COVID-19 boosters as White House plans rollout next week

Even with the wave of delta variant-driven COVID-19 cases in the U.S., the authorized vaccines appear to be staving off severe infections. Boosters for the general population are not needed at this time, leading scientists with the FDA and the World Health Organization argued in a paper on Monday.

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Resources

Whitepaper: Applications of Digital Twins in Clinical Trials for Alzheimer’s Disease

Read Unlearn’s whitepaper to learn about how novel trial designs with Digital Twins enable more efficient clinical trials, with higher power and smaller required sample sizes.

Whitepaper: Evaluating current manufacturing platforms for recombinant AAV production

Choose the right AAV platform for your viral vector-based therapy

Whitepaper: The Value of Precision Medicine Informatics Initiatives Research Findings

Download the Value of Precision Medicine Informatics (PMI) Initiatives report to learn about the technology, data types, and the value derived from more than 100 PMI initiatives.

Whitepaper: Challenging Tradition: The Argument for Integrated Commercialization to Improve Operational Agility

Today’s economics do not allow manufactures to keep making decisions in an antiquated way. They need to challenge tradition & deliver faster, cheaper, successful launches. Learn how.

Whitepaper: High-yield NK cell culture for allogeneic cell therapy applications

Thermo Fisher Scientific introduces a new NK cell culture medium designed to support feeder-free, high-yield growth for cell therapy applications.

Whitepaper: Going from Process R&D to Clinical APIs Quickly and Effectively

Read four customer success stories and four success factors that helped move pharmaceutical customers of Cascade Chemistry by Aceto quickly and effectively to clinic with trial-ready APIs.

Webinar: Let A Digital Sherpa Uncomplicate The Path for Patients

Topple barriers to getting patients started on therapy. Guide them with mobile.

eBook: Get solutions to market faster

Read Get to Know Cloud Content Management for Life Sciences and learn how to eliminate silos across all workflows, from R&D to commercialization.

eBrief: Drug Product Process Development: Ensuring a Consistent, High-quality Biologic

Learn about drug product process development challenges and risks, the difference between innovator and biosimilar drug product process development, and more during the drug product process development phase.

Whitepaper: Achieving a Successful Drug Product Technology Transfer

Get insights on key considerations for a successful tech transfer process for manufacturing a biologic drug product, including a case study on overcoming challenges in a process transfer for a sterile diluent.

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