Plus, news about 2seventy, Novo Nordisk, CASI, CalciMedica, X4, NeOnc, ANI, Alimera, Holoclara, Nxera, Future Pak, Vanda and Bayer:
Recursion Pharmaceuticals is selling $200M in shares: The company is offering about 30.7 million shares at $6.50 apiece. The fundraise is expected to close on Friday and comes days after Recursion detailed plans for seven clinical readouts within the next 18 months. — Ayisha Sharma
Sanofi buys into Vigil Neuroscience: The French pharma will invest $40 million into the Boston-area biotech by buying 537,000 shares. Vigil’s stock $VIGL was up 8% on Thursday. Sanofi also snagged the first negotiation rights to Vigil’s TREM2 small molecule VG-3927, an oral Alzheimer’s drug candidate currently in Phase 1. — Kyle LaHucik
2seventy bio sells assets to Novo Nordisk for up to $40M: The Cambridge, MA-based biotech is divesting its hemophilia A candidate and its in vivo gene editing technology outside of oncology and cell therapies for autoimmune diseases. The 2seventy team members currently working on the hemophilia program will join Novo. — Ayisha Sharma
CASI CEO makes $40M bid for China business: Wei-Wu He’s offer to buy all of CASI’s China business operations and related pipeline rights in Asia, excluding Japan, sent the company’s shares $CASI soaring about 70% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. — Ayisha Sharma
CalciMedica’s drug hits primary endpoint in acute pancreatitis: In a Phase 2b trial, the patients on the highest dose of Auxora showed a 1.9 day improvement in time to solid food tolerance (41% relative risk reduction) compared to 4.7 days on placebo. The trial was investigating the drug in patients with acute pancreatitis with accompanying systemic inflammatory response syndrome. The company said it’s identified the right dose to advance to a pivotal trial. However, its stock $CALC tumbled about 30% on Thursday. — Katherine Lewin
X4 Pharmaceuticals touts positive interim data for chronic neutropenia drug: In an ongoing Phase 2 trial for its oral CXCR4 antagonist, the data showed that mavorixafor increased absolute neutrophil counts both as a monotherapy and when in combination with the only current approved therapy for the condition — granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. X4 also announced that it’s enrolling patients into a Phase 3 trial for mavorixafor as a monotherapy and in combination in the same indication. The company’s stock $XFOR dropped 26% on Thursday. — Katherine Lewin
NeOnc Technologies completes $18.5M financing: The funds will be used to advance the California biotech’s CNS assets and delivery technologies through ongoing Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies. NeOnc also plans to expand the use of its NEO platform technology. — Ayisha Sharma
ANI Pharmaceuticals acquires Alimera for $5.50 per share: The deal, which values Alimera at around $381 million, is expected to close in the third quarter. As part of the deal, ANIwill get Alimera’s two assets: Iluvien, a drug for diabetic macular edema, and Yutiq, indicated for another inflammatory eye disease called non-infectious uveitis. ANI CEO Nikhil Lalwani said the acquisition is part of the company’s strategy to build a rare disease portfolio. — Katherine Lewin
Holoclara’s worm-derived therapies get $16M: The Pasadena, CA-based biotech disclosed the Series A, which will carry its oral drugs into the clinic this year. BOLD Capital Partners, Horizons Ventures and other investors are funding the allergy and autoimmune disorder biotech. — Kyle LaHucik
Nxera Pharma secures $10M payout from AbbVie: The R&D milestone stems from a 2022 agreement to use Nxera’s NxWave platform to discover, develop and commercialize drugs addressing new G protein-coupled receptor targets associated with neurological disease. — Ayisha Sharma
Future Pak takes back bid to buy Vanda: The privately-held contract manufacturer withdrew its offer after Vanda rejected its final proposal, saying Vanda showed a “continued lack of engagement.” Earlier this month, Future Pak raised its bid from $8.50 to $9.00 per share from a prior range of $7.25 to $7.75 a share. — Ayisha Sharma
Bayer to cut more staffers in Europe and Asia: The German conglomerate is planning managerial cuts to its pharma unit in Germany, Japan, the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands, Reuters reported Wednesday. Bayer’s North America pharma team recently reduced the number of managers by 40% as part of a broader structural overhaul. Bayer declined to comment. — Ayisha Sharma