Gilead, AbCellera in infectious disease antibody discovery pact

Gilead Sciences has entered into an infectious disease antibody discovery pact with AbCellera. The deal sees Gilead task AbCellera with using technologies that have landed a string of deals with big biopharma companies to find rare antibodies with certain characteristics.

AbCellera has become a go-to partner for big biopharma antibody discovery efforts, completing more than 40 projects with companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck and Pfizer. The interest has led to larger, longer deals, notably the 10-target agreement AbCellera struck with Novartis earlier this year.

Now, AbCellera has landed a deal with Gilead. In return for an undisclosed upfront fee plus research payments, milestones and royalties, AbCellera will use its technology to generate panels of antibody candidates from natural immune repertoires. The discovery effort will seek to uncover “ultra-rare” antibodies with specific properties defined by Gilead.

Kevin Heyries, co-founder and head of business development of AbCellera, thinks his company is well set to handle that task.

“Infectious diseases are one of the most underserved disease areas for human health and drug discovery and this area has been hampered by industry hurdles and technological limitations. However, AbCellera’s capabilities and expertise are particularly well-suited to tackle some of the challenges presented by infectious diseases,” Heyries said.

Heyries picked out AbCellera’s ability to work with any immune source and deep screening capabilities as among the reasons he thinks it can handle the Gilead project. As the technology bypasses the need for B cell fusions as traditionally used with hybridomas, AbCellera can screen antibody-secreting cells from any species and any immune source, enabling it to work with human spleens, tonsils, bone marrow, transgenic humanized rodent platforms and other materials.

The immunogenicity of antigens related to infectious diseases means AbCellera’s platform generates thousands of antibody binders. That creates a need for ways to sift through the resource and pick out antibody candidates with the desired affinity, specificity, cross-reactivity and other properties.

“We can customize our screening format to identify antibodies with those rare properties at the single-cell level, in less than a day, then rapidly sequence and express hundreds of candidates to obtain additional functional information and generate rich, annotated sequence data sets,” Heyries said.

AbCellera has experience using these capabilities in infectious disease projects. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency  has picked the company for multiple infectious disease programs, including an effort to generate antibody-based countermeasures against a pandemic influenza strain.

For Gilead, the AbCellera deal adds another element to its antibody discovery capabilities. Last year, Gilead licensed a human monoclonal antibody discovery platform from Trianni. And antibodies such as HIV-specific, broadly neutralizing antibody GS-9722 are in its infectious disease pipeline.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/gilead-abcellera-ink-infectious-disease-antibody-discovery-pact

Bain creates $1.1B fund for fresh round of life science bets

Bain Capital has raised a $1.1 billion life sciences fund to place another round of big bets. The fund sets Bain up to continue striking eye-catching deals such as the Pfizer spinouts it bankrolled through its first life science investment vehicle.

Private investment firm Bain set up its first life science fund in 2016, pulling in $600 million from third parties and adding $120 million from its own coffers. Since then, Bain has been involved in some of the biggest investments in biotech, eschewing early-stage companies in favor of businesses that have gone some way toward validating their pipelines. That focus led Bain to commit $350 million to a startup that acquired Pfizer’s neuroscience pipeline and help another Pfizer spinout raise $228 million.

Now, Bain has raised another $900 million from outside investors for its second life science fund, Bloomberg reports. With Bain committing around $180 million of its own money to the investment vehicle, the overall fund is about 64% bigger than its predecessor.

Bain will follow the same playbook as for its first fund, which has invested in 15 companies. The new fund will commit between $20 million and $100 million to 15 to 20 companies developing drugs, medical devices, diagnostics or tools. Some of the money will go toward crossover rounds. Another tranche will support more advanced companies that need big sums to support the build-out of commercial infrastructure.

The current landscape provides plenty of such opportunities. The level of early-stage VC investment in recent years and investor interest in IPOs have created a pool of companies looking for one big private round before going public. More biotechs are taking drugs to market themselves. And Big Pharma companies continue to look for ways to offload pipeline prospects and narrow their focus.

Bain’s financial clout means it is better equipped than most investors to help out in these situations. The investor is building out the team that will oversee its life science activities, including by hiring ex-Editas Medicine Chief Financial Officer Andrew Hack as managing director.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/bain-creates-1-1b-fund-for-fresh-round-life-science-bets

Improving memory by changing brain waves

Brain signals called sharp wave ripples (SPW-Rs) are believed to support memory consolidation. A team led by researchers at the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine found that artificially changing the length of SPW-Rs could improve short-term memory in rats, offering a potentially new approach for treating memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s.

The team found that when they lengthened SPW-Rs in rats, the ability of the animals to complete tasks requiring short- and mid-duration memory improved. In people, such memories might include visiting a new place and being able to remember how to get there, for example. The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Science, hope future studies could reveal new strategies for altering SPW-Rs with drugs.

For their study, the NYU team designed mazes for rats, rewarding them with sugary water when they found the correct route. That route shifted between the left and right arms of the maze. So, to get the reward, the rodents had to use their short-term memory to find their way by pursuing the opposite path they had used in a previous trip through the maze.

Nerve cells send out electrical impulses to relay complex information and coordinate memories. This “firing” of signals creates SPW-Rs that can be shown graphically on an electroencephalogram. Rather than randomly stimulating ripples, the researchers doubled the duration of spontaneous SPW-Rs that the rats’ brain cells were making when performing navigation tasks.

Turns out, rats with extended SPW-Rs were 10% to 15% better at finding the reward than rats without the altered signals were, the team reported. What’s more, the extended ripples recruited slower-firing neurons into their sequences. The researchers had previously shown that the slower neurons are better at changing their properties when something new is learned than fast-firing neurons are.

“Our study is the first in our field that made artificial changes to intrinsic neuronal firing patterns in the brain region called the hippocampus that increased the ability to learn, instead of interfering with it like previous attempts,” the study’s lead author György Buzsáki said in a statement.

Buzsáki’s research could spark new ideas for tackling Alzheimer’s, which is often marked by disruptive short-term memory loss. Clinical studies in Alzheimer’s have suffered numerous setbacks lately. Biogen and Eisai were forced to cap phase 3 development of their anti-beta amyloid drug aducanumab, adding to a long list of failed attempts in the amyloid arena.

Meanwhile, some academic scientists are pursuing new ideas for treating Alzheimer’s. For example, a Stanford University team recently found that dampening a B-cell receptor called CD22 might improve cognitive function. Another group at the University of Florida pointed to soluble versions of Toll-like receptors as a promising way to reduce amyloid plaque buildup and brain inflammation.

To test their hypothesis that longer SPW-Rs are beneficial for memory, the NYU team lengthened them in rats using an invasive procedure. “Our next step will be to seek to understand how sharp wave ripples can be prolonged by non-invasive means, which if we succeed would have implications for treating memory disorders,” the study’s first author Antonio Fernandez-Ruiz said.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/improving-memory-by-changing-a-brain-wave

Another Company Joins The Plant-Based Food Race: Campbell Soup

Campbell Soup Company (NYCE: CPB) will launch a “plant-based cooking platform” that will offer plant-based products for cooking purposes, according to CNBC.

Campbell Soup is looking to reinvent its soup business, CNBC said.

Tyson Foods, Inc TSN 0.75% announced Thursday it is jumping on the meat-free bandwagonwith the launch of its first plant-based blended products. This is a big move for Tyson Foods, which is the largest U.S. meat producer to enter the growing alternative protein segment with its own products.

Both Campbell Soup and Tyson Foods are competing with Beyond Meat Inc BYND 6.83%, which continues to make new highs since its May 2 market debut. The stock is up 500% from its IPO price of $25 per share.

https://www.benzinga.com/news/19/06/13921578/another-company-joins-the-plant-based-food-race-campbell-soup

Chronic disease biotech Morphic Holding sets terms for $75 million IPO

Morphic Holding, which is developing oral small-molecule integrin therapeutics for various chronic diseases, announced terms for its IPO on Friday.

The Waltham, MA-based company plans to raise $75 million by offering 5 million shares at a price range of $14 to $16. Insiders intend to purchase $30 million worth of shares in the offering. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Morphic Holding would command a fully diluted market value of $450 million.

Morphic Holding was founded in 2014 and it plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol MORF. Jefferies, Cowen, BMO Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities are the joint bookrunners on the deal. It is expected to price during the week of June 24, 2019.

Relevant Profile: MORF

https://www.renaissancecapital.com/IPO-Center/News/63668/Chronic-disease-biotech-Morphic-Holding-sets-terms-for-$75-million-IPO

IPO Week Ahead: A biotech wave drives 7 IPOs

Eight companies are going public in the week ahead, including five biotechs, a genome sequencer, a discount grocer, and a the popular workplace messaging software Slack (WORK).

The biotechs are mostly early stage, including two that are preclinical (BCEL, STOK).

Already, four more IPOs have set pricing dates for the week of June 24. Expect more to join the calendar in the coming week; likely candidates include talent agency Endeavor Group (EDR), online consignor The RealReal (REAL), and yet another wave of biotechs (Inhibrix – INBX; Karuna Therapeutics – KRTX; Adaptive Biotechnologies – ADPT; Genmab – GMAB; BridgeBio Pharma – BBIO).

U.S. IPO CALENDAR
ISSUER BUSINESS	DEAL SIZE MARKET CAP	PRICE RANGE SHARES FILED	TOP BOOKRUNNERS
Stoke Therapeutics (STOK) Bedford, MA	$101M $509M	$14 – $16 6,700,000	JP Morgan Cowen
Preclinical biotech developing RNA-targeted therapies for rare genetic diseases.
Akero Therapeutics (AKRO) South San Francisco, CA	$75M $430M	$14 – $16 5,000,000	JP Morgan Jefferies
Early stage biotech developing therapies for NASH and other metabolic diseases.
Atreca (BCEL) Redwood City, CA	$125M $484M	$16 – $18 7,350,000	Cowen Evercore ISI
Preclinical biotech developing immunotherapies for solid tumors.
Dermavant Sciences (DRMT) Phoenix, AZ	$100M $323M	$12 – $14 7,700,000	Jefferies Leerink
Phase 3 biotech developing in-licensed therapies for dermatological diseases.
Grocery Outlet Holdings (GO) Emeryville, CA	$275M $1,491M	$15 – $17 17,187,500	BofA ML Morgan Stanley
Operates a network of more than 300 independently run discount grocery stores.
Personalis (PSNL) Menlo Park, CA	$100M $479M	$14 – $16 6,666,667	Morgan Stanley BofA ML
Provides a genome sequencing platform for cancer drug development.
Prevail Therapeutics (PRVL) New York, NY	$125M $672M	$16 – $18 7,353,000	Morgan Stanley BofA ML
Early stage biotech developing gene therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.

Akero Therapeutics (AKRO), an early stage biotech developing therapies for NASH and other metabolic diseases, plans to raise $75 million by offering 5.0 million shares at a price range of $14.00 to $16.00. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Akero would command a market value of $430 million.  The South San Francisco, CA-based company was founded in 2017and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol AKRO. J.P. Morgan, Jefferies and Evercore ISI are the joint bookrunners on the deal. Insiders intend to purchase up to $30 million of the IPO (40% of the deal).

Atreca (BCEL), a preclinical biotech developing immunotherapies for solid tumors, plans to raise $125 million by offering 7.4 million shares at a price range of $16.00 to $18.00. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Atreca would command a market value of $484 million.  The Redwood City, CA-based company was founded in 2010 and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol BCEL. Cowen, Evercore ISI and Stifel are the joint bookrunners on the deal. Insiders intend to purchase up to $60 million of the IPO (48% of the deal).

Dermavant Sciences (DRMT), a Phase 3 biotech developing in-licensed therapies for dermatological diseases, plans to raise $100 million by offering 7.7 million shares at a price range of $12.00 to $14.00. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Dermavant would command a market value of $323 million.  The Phoenix, AZ-based company was founded in 2015 and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol DRMT. Jefferies, SVB Leerink and Guggenheim Securities are the joint bookrunners on the deal. Parent Roivant Sciences intends to purchase $35 million of the IPO (35% of the deal).

Personalis (PSNL), which provides a genome sequencing platform for cancer drug development, plans to raise $100 million by offering 6.7 million shares at a price range of $14.00 to $16.00. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Personalis would command a market value of $479 million. Personalis, which was founded in 2011, booked $48 million in sales over the last 12 months. The Menlo Park, CA-based company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol PSNL. Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch and Cowen are the joint bookrunners on the deal.

Prevail Therapeutics (PRVL), an early stage biotech developing gene therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, plans to raise $125 million by offering 7.4 million shares at a price range of $16.00 to $18.00. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Prevail Therapeutics would command a market value of $672 million.  The New York, NY-based company was founded in 2017 and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol PRVL. Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch and Cowen are the joint bookrunners on the deal.

Stoke Therapeutics (STOK), a preclinical biotech developing RNA-targeted therapies for rare genetic diseases, plans to raise $101 million by offering 6.7 million shares at a price range of $14.00 to $16.00. At the midpoint of the proposed range, Stoke would command a market value of $509 million. The Bedford, MA-based company was founded in 2014 and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol STOK. J.P. Morgan, Cowen and Credit Suisse are the joint bookrunners on the deal.

https://www.renaissancecapital.com/IPO-Center/News/63676/US-IPO-Week-Ahead-A-biotech-wave-drives-7-IPOs-while-Slack-targets-a-direct

U.S. cities propose framework for nationwide opioid settlement talks

Lawyers for counties and municipalities suing drug manufacturers and distributors over their alleged roles in the U.S. opioid epidemic on Friday pitched a novel plan that would bring all 24,500 communities nationally into their negotiations for billions of dollars in settlements.

The proposal came in a motion filed in federal court in Cleveland, Ohio, where 1,850 lawsuits largely by local governments are pending accusing companies including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP of fueling the opioid abuse crisis.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers sought to certify for the purpose of settlement talks a class that would include every U.S. county and municipality in the country, who would then have the right to vote on accepting any deal with a company.

The lawyers say the proposal fits with calls by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster, who presides over the cases, for a national settlement that would “do something meaningful to abate this crisis.”

Joe Rice, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the law firm Motley Rice, said the proposed framework would allow companies the chance at global peace without worrying more lawsuits could emerge.

“The aim is to form a united group vested with the power to negotiate, vote on and deliver finality if there is an opportunity to negotiate a settlement,” Rice said.

Rice acknowledged that some defendants may oppose the proposal out of concern it could expose them to greater liabilities. Many local governments have also chosen so far to not sue and could decide to opt-out.

Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, a University of Georgia law professor, said it was unclear if the courts ultimately would allow such a large class of localities to be given class action status, which have increasingly been harder to get approved.

“I think it will be an uphill battle,” she said.

Drug distributor Cardinal Health Inc, a defendant in the cases, called the proposal “a novel and untested approach that is likely to face extended legal challenges and lead to years of collateral litigation.”

Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue in a statement said it was “committed to working with all parties toward a resolution.” Other companies had no immediate comment.

Opioids were involved in a record 47,600 overdose deaths in 2017, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention says.

The lawsuits allege that drugmakers such as Purdue, Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd overstated the benefits while downplaying addictive risks of opioids in marketing their pain treatments.

They also accuse distributors like Cardinal, McKesson Corp and AmerisourceBergen Corp of failing to halt suspicious opioid orders.

The companies deny wrongdoing and say they cannot be found to be the overdose epidemic’s cause. Plaintiffs claim it could cost about $480 billion to address the epidemic, according to defense court filings in April.

In addition to the cases before Polster, others are in state courts, including a lawsuit by Oklahoma’s attorney general against J&J that is now on trial after the state reached settlements worth $270 million with Purdue and $85 million with Teva.

The first trial before Polster is set for October.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-opioids-litigation/u-s-cities-propose-framework-for-nationwide-opioid-settlement-talks-idUSKCN1TF200