Financing
The Italian drugmaker gets rights to Phase III-ready asset radiprodil.
GlycoEra unveiled a $130m series B financing, saying the proceeds would enable it to take its first clinical candidate through proof-of-concept in autoimmune diseases.
Public Company Edition: Biomedtracker’s first quarter 2025 financing report shows follow-on offerings, IPOs and PIPEs fell sharply from Q1 of 2024. In recent transactions, Teva sold $2.3bn worth of notes, Regenxbio executed a royalty deal for up to $250m and Aura’s FOPO grossed $75m.
Private Company Edition: SV Health Investors revealed the final closing of its second Dementia Discovery Fund. Also, Eikon cut nearly 15% of its staff, Pathos AI raised $365m in series D venture capital and CellCentric completed a $120m series C round, among other financings.
Restructuring Edition: Prime Medicine ended its sole clinical-stage program to prioritize preclinical and partnered programs, cutting 25% of its workforce to extend its cash runway. Meanwhile, earnings season brought workforce reductions at Kyverna, Allogene, Leap and others.
The German biotech has been forced into insolvency and NASDAQ suspension.
Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals is gearing up for what will be 2025's biggest biopharma IPO so far, hoping to raise up to $1.27bn on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. China's top drug maker by pipeline size plans to use part of the proceeds to reboot its overseas clinical trials ambitions.
Public Company Edition: With fewer follow-on offerings, drug developers are pursuing other options. Axsome accessed up to $570m in debt, Evolus obtained $250m in a new credit facility and Abeona raised $155m from a PRV sale, but Apimeds was able to execute a small $13.5m IPO.
CEO Paul Stoffels exits early to be succeeded by Henry Gosebruch, who will now consider ‘all options’ for the Belgian firm as it tries to claw back investor confidence.
The therapy has been developed for GM1 and GM2 gangliosidoses and Niemann-Pick disease type C.
Private Company Edition: Deerfield’s third innovations fund will back therapeutics and other opportunities, the Gates Foundation – a sometimes funder of biotech firms – will spend $200bn over the next 20 years, and NewLimit raised a $130m series B round, among other financings.
HTX-001 targeting the long non-coding RNA known as Wisper is being developed for non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. HAYA partnered with Lilly last year in obesity.
Houman Ashrafian tells delegates at Swiss Biotech Day that ‘literally only two things matter in our industry – target credentialing and differentiated pharmacology. The rest is execution.’
The sector is continuing to show resilience despite financial and market challenges.
Restructuring Edition: Unity unveiled more Phase IIb data for lead asset UBX1325 along with plans to shed its workforce while seeking a partner for it and other drugs. Also, Ono is consolidating US employees at one site, Entrada is cutting its workforce by 20% and other recent strategic shifts.
Public Company Edition: Biohaven secured $250m up front from Oberland Capital to support its future US troriluzole launch after pulling its EU filing. Also, Procaps arranged $130m in private equity and Rezolute grossed $96.9m in a rare follow-on offering, among other financings.
Attorneys Andrew Goodman and Alan Minsk, as well as Naya CEO Daniel Teper, discussed the ramifications of US FDA staff cuts on M&A activity with Scrip senior writer Joseph Haas.
Europe's biopharma sector could suffer if the Trump administration incentivizes US investment but VC leaders believe the region can still thrive and potentially capitalize on instability elsewhere.
Over the past few months, Chinese developers of CNS and cardiometabolic therapies have attracted the interest of domestic investors, amid generally modest funding activity.
The Swiss biotech firm could go public on the NASDAQ later this year, and points to other preclinical dealmaking in the space to back its strategy.