Daily Snap - 4. November 2025

Author

Joachim Eeckhout
November 04, 2025

 

Good morning! I’ll keep this brief as I’m writing from the BIO-Europe conference in Vienna, stealing a quiet moment between meetings (and the karaoke evening!) to prepare this newsletter. If you’re here too, come say hi — it’s always great to meet readers in person.

Enjoy today’s read!

—Joachim E.

SNIPPETS

What’s happening in biotech today?

👁️Retina rescue: Italian biotech AAVantgarde Bio has secured $141 million in Series B funding to advance clinical trials of its two gene therapies targeting inherited retinal diseases. The funds will support ongoing phase 1/2 trials for AAVB-039, aimed at treating Stargardt disease by delivering the full-length ABCA4 protein, and AAVB-081, which targets retinitis pigmentosa associated with Usher syndrome Type 1B by delivering the MYO7A protein. The round was led by Atlas Venture, Forbion, and Schroders, with participation from both new and returning investors.

🧃Off-the-shelf win: Caribou Biosciences has reported promising early results from its “off-the-shelf” cancer cell therapy, vispacabtagene regedleucel (vispa-cel), in a trial for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, with over 80% of patients responding and more than half achieving remission. These results, comparable to autologous CAR-T therapies like Gilead’s Yescarta, support Caribou’s strategy of using donor cells matched to patients’ human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) to enhance treatment compatibility and reduce immune rejection. The company plans to advance to a Phase 3 trial in 2026.

🧪Preclinical payday: Neurocrine Biosciences has entered into a licensing agreement with China’s TransThera Sciences worth up to $881.5 million for the rights to develop and commercialize preclinical NLRP3 inhibitors outside China. The NLRP3 inflammasome, a key regulator of the immune system, is implicated in several diseases, including nonalcoholic hepatosteatosis, cardiovascular conditions, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disorders, when overactivated. While Neurocrine has not disclosed the specific indications it will pursue, the deal covers multiple disease areas and includes collaborative research to expand NLRP3 applications. The agreement underscores growing industry interest in targeting NLRP3, alongside efforts by companies like Novo Nordisk and Ventyx Biosciences.

🧬TCR retreat: TScan Therapeutics is laying off 30% of its workforce, 66 employees, as it halts a phase 1 trial of its solid tumor T-cell receptor (TCR) therapy and shifts focus to blood cancers. The company had initiated the solid tumor trial but will now pursue solid tumor research solely in preclinical settings. Its lead program, TSC-101, targeting acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes, is advancing toward a pivotal trial in mid-2026 following positive FDA feedback. TScan also updated its manufacturing process to reduce production time and improve T-cell quality. The restructuring is expected to save $45 million annually and extend its cash runway into late 2027.

🍳Sizzled series B: Tempero Bio has paused development of its phase 2-stage alcohol use disorder (AUD) candidate, TMP-301, while it evaluates strategic options, according to partner Nxera Pharma. TMP-301, a negative allosteric modulator of the mGluR5 receptor, originated from Nxera’s NxWave platform and was licensed to Tempero in 2020. Earlier this year, Tempero began a phase 2 AUD trial and raised $70 million in a Series B round to support further development, including preclinical studies and formulation work. The biotech was also studying TMP-301 in a drug-drug interaction trial involving cocaine users, but the program has now been put on hold without further explanation.

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