Plus, news about Arrowhead, Cullinan Therapeutics, Cytokinetics, Zentalis, Inovio and Mind Medicine:
Domestic biotech M&A in China: Northeast Pharmaceutical Group, a decades-old maker of generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients in China, struck a deal to acquire a 70% stake in Beijing DCTY Biotech. Founded in 2014, DCTY has built a pipeline of CAR-T and TCR-T cell therapy candidates to treat solid tumors — including a KRAS G12D-targeting TCR-T therapy that Northeast said could become the second such program to enter the clinic, following a therapy developed by AstraZeneca-acquired Neogene Therapeutics. Financial details of the deal are yet to be determined, according to Northeast’s disclosure on the Shenzhen stock exchange. — Amber Tong
Zevra Therapeutics prices $60M offering: The sale of 9.23 million shares comes a week after an FDA advisory committee voted in favor of the company’s rare genetic disease drug. The FDA is set to make a decision on whether to approve the drug by Sept. 21. — Kyle LaHucik
Arrowhead inks $500M financing: The California biotech will get $400 million at closing and can draw another $100 million as part of a seven-year agreement with investment firm Sixth Street. Two months ago, Arrowhead said its RNAi drug cleared a Phase 3 in the rare genetic disorder familial chylomicronemia syndrome. — Kyle LaHucik
Cullinan Therapeutics discontinues bispecific immune activator: The biotech decided to scrap CLN-418, which it was investigating in solid tumors, following a review of Phase 1 data, according to its latest financial report. Cullinan licensed the candidate from Harbour BioMed, and it will now return development and commercial rights. — Katherine Lewin
Cytokinetics scraps heart failure candidate: The company decided against continuing development of CK-136, a cardiac troponin activator it was testing as a treatment for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and other types of heart failure. The drug met the primary endpoint in an early-stage trial in healthy participants, and Cytokinetics blamed the prioritization of its other clinical trial programs for the discontinuation. — Katherine Lewin
Zentalis stops work on relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia drug: In the company’s latest earnings report, Zentalis said it would stop development of its BCL-2 inhibitor, ZN-d5, in combination with azenosertib. In an early-stage study, 14 of 27 patients experienced progressive disease prior to the efficacy evaluation or withdrew from the trial. — Katherine Lewin
Inovio delays BLA submission for lead candidate: The company now plans to submit the treatment for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis to the FDA in mid-2025 because of a manufacturing issue with the device. CEO Jacqueline Shea said Inovio is continuing plans for a redosing trial and regulatory submissions in Europe and the UK. Its stock $INO was down about 7% on Friday morning. — Katherine Lewin
Mind Medicine’s $75M offering: The New York-based biotech plans to use the money to test its drugs for psychiatric, pain and substance use disorders. — Kyle LaHucik