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Rocket lays off staff; Abivax capitalizes on immune drug data

This story was originally published on BioPharma Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily BioPharma Dive newsletter. Today, a brief rundown of news involving Rocket Pharmaceuticals and Atara Biotherapeutics, as well as updates from Abivax, Gate Bioscience and Matchpoint Therapeutics that you may have missed. Rocket Pharmaceuticals is laying off approximately 30% of its workforce and focusing resources on gene therapies for three inherited heart conditions, the company said Thursday. Rocket expects the cuts will reduce its operating expenses by one-quarter, which, together with existing cash reserves and the potential sale of a regulatory fast pass it might receive in the future, should help keep the company afloat into the second quarter of 2027. The Food and Drug Administration last year rejected an approval application for Rocket's gene therapy Kresladi, which the company hopes to resubmit. Rocket said it anticipates delays in advancing two other programs for Fanconi anemia and and pyruvate kinase deficiency. — Ned Pagliarulo Atara Biotherapeutics and partner Pierre Fabre Pharmaceuticals are taking a second shot at FDA approval of their T cell immunotherapy tab-cel, announcing Thursday that the agency has accepted their resubmission after rejecting an initial attempt over manufacturing in January. The FDA will decide on approval by Jan. 10, Atara said. Tab-cel was developed for previously treated adults and children who have post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease that's positive for the Epstein-Barr virus. — Ned Pagliarulo Abivax expects to raise at least $650 million via a sale of its American Depositary shares that it priced Thursday. The secondary stock offering follows the company's announcement this week of Phase 3 study results for an ulcerative colitis drug that impressed analysts and investors. Should the investment banks underwriting the offering exercise their options to purchase additional stock, Abivax could bring in nearly $750 million, which would be some ten times its current cash holdings. It expects the new funds will give it operating runway through 2027 and support further testing of the drug, obefazimod, in inflammatory bowel disease. — Ned Pagliarulo Gate Bioscience, a California-based biotechnology company, announced Thursday that it has entered into collaboration and licensing agreement with Eli Lilly. The deal includes an upfront payment, equity investment, and could also hold potential milestone and royalty payouts. A Gate spokesperson said the fresh funding provides more than a year of runway for the company and, all told, the deal value could reach up to $856 million. The company is backed by well-known life sciences investors like Versant Ventures, a16z, Arch Venture Partners and Alphabet's venture capital arm. It aims to create "molecular gates," a new class of medicines designed to stop cells from secreting disease-causing proteins. Through their collaboration, Lilly and Gate hope to identify therapies that can eliminate "specific difficult-to-drug proteins" and thereby provide novel ways to treat diseases with "high unmet medical need." — Jacob Bell Privately held Matchpoint Therapeutics is getting validation of its drug research from Novartis, which has agreed to pay the Watertown, Massachusetts-based biotech as much as $60 million in upfront and research funding fees. Under the deal, Matchpoint is responsible for advancing an undisclosed program through preclinical testing, at which point Novartis holds an option to exclusively license it. Matchpoint specializes in drugs that work by binding covalently to their target, and is taking aim at an unnamed transcription factor involved in inflammatory disease. — Ned Pagliarulo GSK will have to wait a little longer to learn whether its multiple myeloma drug Blenrep can make a return to the U.S. market. The FDA was set to decide on approval by July 23, but extended its review by three months to "review additional information" the company provided to support its application. Blenrep's new decision date is Oct. 23. An advisory committee voted last week that GSK's trial data did not prove a favorable benefit-risk balance for the patients the company hopes to treat. — Ned Pagliarulo Recommended Reading GSK prepares to relaunch Blenrep; Activists challenge another 'zombie' biotech