Daily Snap - 25. September 2025

Author

Joachim Eeckhout
September 25, 2025

 

Good morning! The Gates Foundation continues to make headlines this week, now partnering with global health organizations and pharmaceutical companies to make generic versions of Gilead's long-acting HIV prevention drug Yeztugo (lenacapavir) available for $40 per year in 120 low- and middle-income countries starting in 2027. This initiative is backed by Gilead’s royalty-free voluntary licensing agreements and over $80 million in funding from the Gates Foundation, which is also supporting Indian generics maker Hetero Labs. In many ways, the Foundation now appears to be filling a global health leadership role once more commonly associated with the U.S. government.

Enjoy today’s read!

—Joachim E.

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What’s happening in biotech today?

🐦$95M flight: Sparrow Pharmaceuticals has raised $95M in a Series B funding round led by RA Capital Management and Forbion, with support from existing investors, to advance its oral drug candidate, clofutriben, for treating Type 2 diabetes patients with excess cortisol. The funding will support the ongoing Phase 2b CAPTAIN-T2D trial, expected to report results in 2027. Clofutriben targets the HSD-1 enzyme to reduce cortisol levels, which Sparrow identifies as a key factor in disease progression and treatment resistance. Originally tested in Cushing’s syndrome, clofutriben is also being explored for polymyalgia rheumatica. Sparrow previously raised $50 million in a 2021 Series A round.

 🧬 HER2 hustle: Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals has entered a licensing agreement potentially worth up to $1.1 billion with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals for its HER2-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), trastuzumab rezetecan, a potential rival to AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Enhertu. The deal includes an $18 million upfront payment, with the remainder tied to regulatory, commercial milestones, and royalties, and applies to select emerging markets, excluding major regions like the U.S., Europe, and China. Approved in China for HER2-mutated lung cancer and under breast cancer review, the ADC uses an exatecan-based payload and is positioned as a next-generation therapy with strong antitumor potential and a bystander effect.

💔Cannabidiol crash: Harmony Biosciences' pivotal Phase 3 trial of ZYN002, a synthetic cannabidiol for Fragile X syndrome, has failed to meet its primary endpoint, dealing a major setback to the company’s $60 million acquisition of Zynerba Pharmaceuticals in 2023. Despite prior Phase 2 failure, Harmony had pursued the drug based on signs of efficacy in patients with complete methylation of the FMR1 gene. However, the registrational study, which targeted improvement in social avoidance, was undermined by an unexpectedly high placebo response. The company plans a full data analysis but gave no clear indication of ZYN002’s future, instead highlighting its other late-stage programs.

💉ASO arsenal: AusperBio Therapeutics has secured $63 million in Series B2 financing to accelerate development of its lead candidate AHB-137, an antisense oligonucleotide therapy aimed at achieving a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B. The funding round, co-led by Qiming Venture Partners and a global strategic investor, will support pivotal trials, Phase II combination studies, and global clinical expansion. Proceeds will also advance the company’s proprietary platform and preclinical pipeline. AHB-137, which has completed Phase I and is in multiple Phase II and Phase III trials in China, is the first candidate from this platform to reach pivotal development.

💥Trial flop:  Acadia Pharmaceuticals is discontinuing development of ACP-101, an experimental treatment for hyperphagia in Prader-Willi syndrome, after the drug failed to outperform placebo in a 12-week Phase 3 trial involving 175 patients. The trial missed both its primary and secondary endpoints, leading to an 11% drop in Acadia's stock, while shares of rival Soleno Therapeutics rose 13% following the news. ACP-101, acquired through Acadia’s 2022 purchase of Levo Therapeutics, had long been considered a high-risk asset. The company will shift focus to other late-stage candidates in its pipeline, including a treatment for Alzheimer’s-related psychosis.

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