Today, a brief rundown of news involving AstraZeneca and Ascenta Capital, as well as updates from Expedition Therapeutics, Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi that you may have missed.
AstraZeneca has upped its planned investment in a new drug manufacturing facility in Virginia. In a Thursday announcement, the company said it’s adding $500 million to a previously announced $4 billion commitment to the Albemarle County, Virginia, plant, which will produce drugs like its experimental obesity pill, a blood pressure medication and an oral PCSK9 inhibitor. AstraZeneca is now adding antibody-drug conjugates to the facility’s manufacturing capabilities as well. The plant will employ 700 workers, once operational. — Ben Fidler
Venture firm Ascenta Capital announced Thursday the closing of a $325 million fund to back development-stage biotechnology companies. The firm, which was founded in 2023 by Moderna veterans Evan Rachlin and Lorence Kim, has already put more than $100 million into six biotechs, among them Odyssey Therapeutics, OrsoBio, and Cardurion Pharma. In a statement, the company said its preference is to lead or co-lead investments in “multi-medicine” biotechs at the “early stages” of human testing. — Delilah Alvarado
Expedition Therapeutics raised a $165 million Series A round to support testing of a lung disease drug it recently licensed from Fosun Pharma. The drug is part of a class of medicines that target the enzyme DPP-1, which is linked to the development and progression of multiple inflammatory conditions. Expedition’s financing, co-led by Sofinnova Investments and Novo Holdings, will fund a Phase 2 trial in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The company is run by former Goldman Sachs banker Yi Larson and is one of many recently formed startups aiming to in-license assets from China. — Ben Fidler
Ferring Pharmaceuticals plans to lay off up to 500 employees in an effort to cut costs. The Switzerland-based company said Tuesday it is “aligning its operations” with a recently announced “Enterprise Model” that’ll boost its core business and provide “flexibility to pursue new opportunities.” Chief Medical and Science Officer Pierre-Yves Berclaz took an “early retirement” as part of the initiative, and a new company council was formed to replace an old advisory committee as well. Ferring didn’t say when the job cuts would be completed. — Delilah Alvarado
Sanofi said on Wednesday an experimental radiopharmaceutical it’s developing succeeded in a mid-stage trial. The French pharmaceutical company didn’t provide specifics, but said the therapy, dubbed AlphaMedix, met all of its main goals and displayed “clinically meaningful” response rates as well as “prolonged clinical benefits” in people with a type of neuroendocrine tumor. Sanofi got the drug through a 2024 deal with Orano Med. Full findings will be presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress this month and form the basis of discussions with global health authorities. — Delilah Alvarado
