Biotechnology valuations generally have been on the rise in recent months, relative to general stock market indices, but there still are a number of drug developers that are having trouble gaining traction with public company investors or maintaining significant valuations. For instance, Intrinsic Medicine Inc. and the special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) Phoenix Biotech Acquisition Corp. (PBAX) cited “current market conditions” in announcing that they agreed not to merge after all.
Finance Watch: SPAC Deals Stumble, Layoffs Continue As Valuations Struggle To Recover
Axcella, Sensei, Instil, TherapeuticsMD, Novartis Reveal Job Cuts
Aesther Healthcare Acquisition extended the deadline to merge with Ocean Biomedical, while Intrinsic Medicine no longer plans to go public by merging with a SPAC. In restructuring news, Otonomy begins liquidation, Celyad cuts last clinical program with cash running out and Clovis files for bankruptcy.
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CEO Kris Elverum told Scrip about the start-up’s platform for editing RNA to correct genetic variants that cause harm and to reproduce healthy variants as a means of treating disease.
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The four-year-old firm said it plans to advance programs toward the clinic from the funding round, which comes just over a year after signing two major pharma partnerships.
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Private Company Edition: The latest group of drug developers to announce venture capital financings is remarkable for its geographic diversity, from Character Biosciences’ $93m series B round in the US to Augustine’s $85m series B in Belgium to a $29.2m series C for Aculys in Japan.
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Kyoto-based venture moves HQ to California to expand R&D and business outreach for its regulatory T-cell technology, as it raises around $46m in public and private funding.
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Supply chain disruption fears at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic caused drug over-ordering. Imminent tariffs on drugs may have had a similar effect on pharma sales in Q1 earnings season.
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Stock prices plummeted, particularly for vaccine makers and cell and gene therapy developers, after the US FDA’s top biologics overseer resigned over vaccine misinformation concerns.
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Seeking cell therapy approaches to cure type 1 diabetes, Vertex abandons a candidate encapsulated to avoid immune system detection but hopes to file another candidate for approval in 2026.