Daily Snap - 5. August 2025

Author

Joachim Eeckhout
August 05, 2025

Biotech Snap is back! Thanks for bearing with us during the break. We’re now back on track and will be publishing uninterrupted until Christmas.

Good morning! Biogen is assembling its own Avengers 🦸‍♀️ Dubbed the New Ventures team (tell me that doesn’t sound like a Marvel spinoff), this elite unit will scout cutting-edge science from the outside world. Unlike a traditional corporate VC, they're not hunting for financial returns but for scientific breakthroughs worth bringing into Biogen’s fold. Now all they need is a cool logo and a theme song.

Enjoy today’s read!

—Joachim E.

SNIPPETS

What’s happening in biotech today?

💊 Pain fail: Vertex Pharmaceuticals announced that its experimental pain drug VX-993 failed to show efficacy over placebo in a phase 2 trial for acute pain following bunion surgery, prompting the company to discontinue its development as a monotherapy for this indication. The trial, involving 367 patients, found no improvement in pain intensity over 48 hours. VX-993 targets the Nav1.8 sodium channel, like Vertex’s already-approved pain drug Journavx (suzetrigine), but the new candidate did not demonstrate superior efficacy. A separate trial for chronic diabetic peripheral neuropathy is ongoing.

🇨🇳 IPO twins: Chinese biotechs Mabgeek Biotechnology and TenNor Therapeutics have filed for IPOs in Hong Kong to advance their respective drug development programs. Mabgeek, founded in 2016 in Hunan, focuses on long-acting antibody therapies for allergic and autoimmune diseases, with eight investigational candidates led by late-stage asset MG-K10. The company recently raised $36 million in pre-IPO funding. TenNor, founded in 2013 and based in Suzhou, develops antibacterial therapies targeting drug-resistant infections and gut microbiota-related diseases. Its lead candidate, rifasutenizol (TNP-2198), achieved a 92% eradication rate in a Phase III trial for Helicobacter pylori, outperforming standard treatment with fewer adverse events.

💸 Funding flop: Sirona Biochem is shutting down its France-based R&D subsidiary, TFChem, after the collapse of key financing deals and the termination of a licensing agreement with AbbVie’s Allergan Aesthetics. The 2022 agreement had centered on the development of skin treatments using Sirona’s skin-lightening compound TFC-1067, but Allergan has since withdrawn from the deal. Simultaneously, expected funding from German investor Promura and a planned private placement failed to materialize, leaving the company financially strained. Sirona is now liquidating TFChem and exploring uncertain structural and financial options to salvage its proprietary technologies.

🧪 Cancer combo: Everest Medicines has invested $30.9 million in I-Mab, bringing its ownership stake to approximately 16.1%. The strategic equity deal aims to strengthen Everest’s oncology platform by leveraging synergies between its own mRNA cancer vaccine and in vivo CAR-T technologies and I-Mab’s bispecific antibody pipeline and 4-1BB receptor-targeting platform. The companies plan to collaborate on clinical development and global expansion, combining I-Mab’s U.S. expertise with Everest’s Asia-based operations, particularly for candidates like givastomig and ragistomig in cancer immunotherapy.

🔁 Pipeline shift: Allogene Therapeutics has discontinued development of its monoclonal antibody ALLO-647 following a patient death in the Phase II ALPHA3 trial evaluating cemacabtagene ansegedleucel (cema-cel) for large B-cell lymphoma. The fatal grade 5 adverse event, attributed to immunosuppression-related adenovirus infection, led the company to eliminate ALLO-647 from the trial and pipeline. Allogene is shifting focus to its Dagger Platform, which supports next-generation allogeneic CAR T therapies with reduced reliance on traditional lymphodepletion methods.

SPEED READ

More news

  • The Gates Foundation will invest $2.5 billion over five years to advance research in contraception, maternal health, and neglected women’s conditions in low-resource settings

  • Johnson & Johnson is closing JLABS incubator sites in Toronto, Houston, and Washington, D.C., shifting focus to virtual programs while maintaining other global physical locations

  • OrbiMed has raised $1.86 billion for its fifth fund to support healthcare companies with non-dilutive financing, despite ongoing volatility in biotech equity markets

  • Medicus Pharma and HelixNano have agreed to co-develop needle-free, heat-stable mRNA vaccine patches, aiming to improve global access by eliminating cold-chain requirements

  • Spine BioPharma’s SB-01 missed its primary endpoint in a Phase III trial for chronic low back pain, largely due to an unexpectedly high sham response

TOUR OPERATOR

Upcoming events