Today, a brief rundown of news involving Roche and Veradermics, as well as updates from Revolution Medicines, Nouscom, OrbiMed and Ultragenyx that you may have missed.
Roche is continuing a sudden streak of licensing pacts with China-based drugmakers. Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group said Monday that Roche will shell out $400 million initially, and possibly as much as $15 billion overall, in a new partnership focused on antibody-drug conjugates. The companies didn’t specify the drugs or diseases involved in the deal. They did say, however, that Hansoh will contribute two preclinical ADCs and start developing others aimed at targets Roche proposes. The alliance is Roche’s sixth China deal since late August, a surge that’s placed it well ahead of its pharmaceutical peers this year, according to BioPharma Dive data. — Ben Fidler
An experimental drug from Veradermics succeeded in a second late-stage study in male pattern baldness, the company said Monday. Veradermics previously reported that its therapy — an extended-release, oral form of minoxidil — helped regrow significantly more new hair than a placebo over six months in its first Phase 3 test. The latest study findings are not only “consistent” with what was observed in that study, but “directionally better,” wrote Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Prakhar Agrawal, in a client note. Some investors are skeptical of the sales potential of Veradermics’ drug, VDPHL01, given the wide availability of inexpensive generic minoxidil, Agrawal wrote. But a Food and Drug Administration-approved option with a “differentiated efficacy and safety profile could drive very rapid adoption, given the high willingness to pay for and use” hair loss treatments, he contended. — Ben Fidler
European drug regulators have recommended approval of Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer drug Rasonque, but plan to restrict use more tightly than the Food and Drug Administration has in the U.S. In an endorsement Friday, the European Medicines Agency’s drugs committee sanctioned use of Rasonque after at least one round of another treatment. The FDA, by comparison, made Rasonque available for those patients as well as those who aren’t eligible for first-line chemotherapy. The decision will take effect once ratified by the European Commission. The EU’s 27 member nations must then negotiate pricing deals with Revolution before physicians can begin administering treatment. — Jonathan Gardner
Nouscom, a Swiss biotech startup, secured $135 million in a Series D financing that'll help fund testing of an experimental cancer immunotherapy. Nouscom is working on a treatment that teaches the immune system to spot and eliminate abnormal cells in people with Lynch syndrome, an inherited condition associated with heightened cancer risk. Called NOUS-209, that therapy is in an early-stage trial being featured at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress this week, where data have suggested it might help prevent the onset of certain tumors in Lynch syndrome. M Ventures and Revelation Partners led the Series D funding, which involved more than a dozen other investment firms. — Ben Fidler
OrbiMed raised nearly $3 billion in two separate private equity funds that will invest in life science and health care companies on multiple continents. The New York-headquartered investment company secured $1.9 billion for OrbiMed Private Investments X, which will finance life sciences opportunities in the U.S. and Europe. Another $1 billion will bankroll OrbiMed Asia Partners VI, a fund specifically tailored to healthcare growth equity and venture capital opportunities in Asia. Participants in the two fundraisings include “medical institutions, university endowments, foundations, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and family offices,” OrbiMed said. It’s the second major investment fund recently launched to capitalize on biotech opportunities in China, following a similar move by TCGX earlier this month. — Jonathan Gardner
Ultragenyx sold its second regulatory fast-pass in less than two weeks, announcing Wednesday it booked $203 million by offloading a priority review voucher it earned by winning U.S. approval of the gene therapy Fayuvi. That deal quickly followed a $210 million haul Ultragenyx gained in the sale of a voucher related to another gene therapy clearance. Both transactions have provided much-needed funding to a company that’s been considering cost cuts since the failure of a closely watched medicine for Angelman syndrome. — Jonathan Gardner
