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Today's Rundown

 

    

Thank you to Catalent for sponsoring Fierce Biotech's ESMO 2021 news coverage.

 

Featured Story

ESMO: Mirati pulls away from Amgen in colorectal cancer with rival KRAS drug

Mirati Therapeutics has spent 2021 watching Amgen blast past it to win the race to bring a KRAS drug to market in lung cancer. Yet, with Amgen’s Lumakras underwhelming in colorectal cancer, Mirati still has a shot at carving out a niche. The small biotech rocked up to this year’s European Society of Medical Oncology congress with data to make its case. 

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Top Stories

Q&A: Eli Lilly is making strides in overall trial diversity, but oncology lags behind

Eli Lilly has made strides in increasing the diversity of clinical trials overall, but when you zoom in on oncology, people of color continue to be left out.

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Bankrolled by Pfizer and Bayer, Pyxis files for $100M IPO to take cancer drugs into the clinic

Pyxis Oncology is aiming to close out a transformative 2021 with an IPO. Having licensed a pair of antibody-drug conjugates from Pfizer and raised a megaround to develop them, Pyxis is now seeking to tap public investors for cash in an IPO filing that sets the initial fundraising target at $100 million.  

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Sponsored: What’s Driving Record Capital in Genetic Medicine?

Gene editing is at the new frontier of biotech innovation, driving capital investments and momentum within the IPO market. Learn more.

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Sanofi-backed Jeito Capital closes $630M fund to finance 12-15 European biopharmas

Paris-based private equity firm Jeito Capital has closed its first fund at $630 million, with an investor list including Sanofi and Temasek, to help finance 12 to 15 European biopharmas.

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Sponsored: A New Reference Model for Clinical Trial Recruitment, Enrollment and Retention Success

Rare diseases demand a modern recruitment approach grounded in uncovering the ideal, medically-eligible patient population with the highest propensity for study enrollment and retention.

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Mirati switches up leadership as KRAS drug speeds toward FDA filing

Mirati is gearing up to move a hotly anticipated KRAS inhibitor to regulatory filings, and now the biotech will have a new industry veteran at the helm to complete the work.

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Gubra strikes $253M biobucks deal with Bayer on heart, kidney disorder treatments

Bayer will pay up to $253 million in biobucks to use Gubra's machine learning drug discovery tools to find potential treatments for kidney and heart disorders.

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New insights into bats' immunity could point to therapeutic approaches for fighting COVID-19

Knowing that bats can ward off many coronaviruses better than humans can, researchers at Monash University reviewed studies of the animal's immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19. Their findings could lead to new strategies for fighting the disease, such as reducing inflammasome signaling, they suggested.

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Hong Kong COVID tester Prenetics sets up $1.7B SPAC deal

The proceeds will fund Prenetics' global expansion as well as an acquisition strategy aimed at growing its U.S. footprint.

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ESMO: In landmark win, Novartis' Kisqali extends breast cancer survival by one year. Can it challenge Pfizer's Ibrance?

Novartis’ breast cancer drug Kisqali already has two clinical wins under its belt showing a survival benefit over traditional treatment. Now, the company hopes a third, first-of-its-kind victory in newly diagnosed patients could give it a better shot at challenging Pfizer’s market-leading Ibrance. But a shift may not be up to the Swiss pharma.

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HHS announces funds, legal protections for abortion providers and patients

The department’s announcement Friday included a list of planned actions like grant support for clinics and legal protections for healthcare workers and pregnant patients. Following passage of Texas’ Senate Bill 8, otherwise known as the "heartbeat bill," the Biden administration has directed a number of government agencies, including HHS, to find ways to safeguard reproductive rights for Texans.

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SPAC Attack: The 10 biggest in healthcare

Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and the virtual care boom, special purpose acquisition companies have been on a red-hot streak, triggering a whirlwind of public exit activity for healthcare and digital health startups.

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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.

Events