March 19, 2021 - Fierce Biotech
Chipmaker Rockley Photonics has announced plans to go public to raise funds for its wearable sensor platform designed to continuously monitor multiple biomarkers such as blood glucose levels, hydration, blood pressure and body temperature. Through a deal with publicly traded SC Health Corp., a blank-check special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, Rockley will reemerge on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "RKLY" in a transaction listed with a pro forma enterprise value of $1.2 billion.
March 18, 2021 - Fierce Pharma
Holly Springs, North Carolina, is where Fujifilm will take its ambitious leap into large-scale cell culture manufacturing. In an emerging biotech hub 20 miles southwest of Raleigh, Fujifilm will build the largest cell culture biopharmaceutical CDMO facility in North America, the company said Thursday. The Tokyo-based firm will invest more than $2 billion in the project, projecting it will be operational by the spring of 2025. The company expects to employ 725 people there by the end of 2028.
March 18, 2021 - Fierce Biotech
Aktis Oncology has raised a $72 million series A round to develop radiopharmaceutical treatments for solid tumors. The MPM Capital-founded biotech received investment from Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb. Nuclear medicine began decades ago with the use of beta emitters such as radioactive iodine. Such drugs achieved some success but failed in microscopic and disseminated cancers, potentially because of their relatively long particle path length and low linear energy transfer. Those characteristics make beta emitters suited to larger, heterogeneous tumors but poor at mopping up residual disease.
GBT adds 2 Sanofi sickle cell meds to its pipeline in deal worth up to $353M
March 16, 2021 - Fierce Biotech
As Global Blood Therapeutics works to bring its sickle cell disease drug, Oxbryta, to younger patients, the company is bolstering its pipeline with a pair of early-stage programs from Sanofi. In exchange for the global rights to the assets, Sanofi will receive up to $353 million, including a $2.25 million upfront fee and potential development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments down the line
