Daily Snap - 23. October 2025

Author

Joachim Eeckhout
October 23, 2025

Good morning! Did you know that Germany loses nearly 10,000 people a year to drug-resistant infections? Munich-based biotech smartbax wants to change that and just raised €4.7 million in a pre-Series A round to take its ambition to the next level. While most European peers are betting on gene or phage therapies, smartbax is doubling down on chemistry, developing inhibitors that block a previously untargeted step in bacterial wall synthesis and enzyme activators that make microbes self-destruct. With proof-of-concept already in hand and fresh cash to push toward preclinical work, smartbax joins a growing EU effort to fight antimicrobial resistance, including SNIPR Biome in Denmark (CRISPR-based) and Phagos in France (bacteriophage-based). If bacteria had social media, this would be the part where they update their status to “feeling nervous.”

Enjoy today’s read!

—Joachim E. 

PRESENTED BY ACRO BIOSYSTEMS

What’s next in neuroscience research?

Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression, epilepsy… brain disorders touch millions of lives, and their global impact keeps growing. But new science and better tools are opening doors to faster diagnostics and more effective treatments.

ACROBiosystems’ Aneuro eBook offers a snapshot of today’s neuroscience landscape, with research insights and interviews you won’t want to miss.

SNIPPETS

What’s happening in biotech today?

🇫🇷 French deal: Ipsen is acquiring French biotech ImCheck Therapeutics in a deal worth up to €1 billion ($1.16 billion), including an upfront payment of €350 million, to strengthen its oncology pipeline with ImCheck’s lead candidate, ICT01. This investigational anti-BTN3A monoclonal antibody, in combination with venetoclax and azacitidine, has shown promising early results in treating newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in patients unfit for intensive chemotherapy. Interim data from the ongoing phase 1/2 Eviction trial indicate high response rates and good tolerability. Ipsen plans to initiate a phase 2b/3 trial in 2026, aiming to establish ICT01 as a new standard of care.

😴 Narcolepsy-nergies: Alkermes has agreed to acquire Avadel Pharmaceuticals in an all-cash deal valued at up to $2.1 billion, aiming to strengthen its position in the sleep medicine market. The acquisition includes Lumryz, Avadel’s approved treatment for excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy in narcolepsy, which could expand to treat idiopathic hypersomnia pending FDA approval by 2028. Analysts see the deal as a strategic fit, giving Alkermes an immediate commercial presence, infrastructure, and potential cost synergies as it advances its own orexin-2 targeting drug, alixorexton.

🚀New UK startup: Elevara Medicines, a newly launched British biotech, has secured $70 million in a series A funding round to advance its lead asset, ELV001, an oral CDK4/6 inhibitor licensed from Japan’s Teijin Pharma, into a phase 2 trial for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by year-end. Targeting patients unresponsive to methotrexate and TNF inhibitors, ELV001 acts on fibroblast-like synoviocytes rather than immune cells, aiming to address limitations of current RA therapies. The funding, led by Forbion and Sofinnova Partners, will also support exploration of other chronic inflammatory and women’s health programs. Early data suggest ELV001 has a favorable safety and efficacy profile.

🧫SIRP target: Electra Therapeutics has raised $183 million in a Series C funding round to advance its lead drug, ELA026, for secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare and potentially fatal inflammatory condition. The monoclonal antibody targets signal regulatory proteins (SIRPs) to deplete overactive immune cells and is currently in a phase 2/3 trial following promising safety data from earlier studies. Electra aims to position ELA026 as a first-line treatment option, addressing unmet needs not fully served by existing therapies. The funding, co-led by Nextech and EQT Life Sciences, will also support pipeline expansion in blood cancers and immune disorders.

 🥅 Well played: Sanofi's $1.7 billion acquisition of efdoralprin alfa from Inhibrx has paid off with a successful phase 2 trial in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) emphysema. The study showed that efdoralprin alfa, an AAT-Fc fusion protein, outperformed CSL Behring’s standard plasma-derived therapy Zemaira on both primary and key secondary endpoints, including a greater increase in functional AAT levels at Week 32. Administered every three or four weeks, efdoralprin alfa also offers a more convenient dosing schedule compared to weekly Zemaira. Sanofi now plans to engage regulators, aiming to challenge existing treatments and capture a share of the AATD market.

SPEED READ

More news

TOUR OPERATOR

Upcoming events