Plus, a Phase 3 fail from a small public company:
Redalpine’s $200M fund: The nearly two-decade-old VC firm closed its sixth early-stage fund, dubbed RAC VII. The Zurich-based firm has invested in multiple biotech startups over the years, and the new fund has already backed gene editing company ExpressionEdits. — Kyle LaHucik
A China-based PCSK9 gene editing deal: Shenzhen-based Salubris Pharmaceuticals is getting exclusive rights to YolTech Therapeutics’ PCSK9 base editing therapy, YOLT-101, in mainland China. The deal is worth about $29 million in upfront cash and a “development milestone,” and has about $116.5 million in future milestones. — Lei Lei Wu
Merck starts another Phase 3 of Imago drug: The pharma said it began Shorespan-007, which is testing bomedemstat against the current standard of care for the rare, chronic blood disorder known as essential thrombocythemia. Merck got the oral drug via its $1.35 billion Imago BioSciences acquisition in 2022. It began another Phase 3, dubbed Shorespan-006, in January. — Kyle LaHucik
Cosciens Biopharma’s pivotal trial fail: The company reported that a Phase 3 study of a treatment called macimorelin for childhood-onset growth hormone deficiency failed to meet its primary endpoint. Cosciens’ shares $CSCI fell 30% Tuesday morning. — Lei Lei Wu
New $200M life sciences fund: Taiwania Capital and Axil Capital are jointly launching a new life sciences investment fund called TaiAx. The Taipei- and Tokyo-based groups are coming together for the fund, which will invest in biotech, medical devices and health tech. — Kyle LaHucik
Indivior gets first BARDA purchase of opioid overdose rescue: The nasal spray, called Opvee, was approved in May 2023. BARDA will spend $8.7 million from its Project BioShield to buy the spray. BARDA also helped fund Opvee’s development, spending up to $10.8 million. — Max Gelman
PTC gets $10M from loan repayment: ClearPoint Neuro repaid the loan, which would have matured in January. PTC had issued the loan as part of a financing from January 2020. — Max Gelman