Plus, news about Oruka Therapeutics, Centessa, Takeda, Innate Pharma and Liquidia:
GSK’s mRNA flu vaccine succeeds against both strains in Phase 2: The pharma company said the vaccine candidate elicited “positive A and B strain immune responses relative to standard of care in both younger and older adults.” This vaccine program, which it licenses from CureVac, will now head into late-stage studies, but the company did not provide a timeline on when the studies will start.
CureVac announced in April that the mRNA flu shot elicited lower immune responses against influenza B strains compared to commercially available vaccines and that it would further optimize the vaccine against the B strain for additional Phase 2 testing.
Influenza B strains have challenged mRNA vaccine developers, though Moderna found success against B strains last year in an interim Phase 3 analysis of its mRNA flu shot compared to GSK’s Fluarix. Moderna announced Thursday morning that it’s no longer pursuing accelerated approval of its standalone mRNA flu vaccine and will instead focus on its flu and Covid-19 combination shot this year. Moderna is planning to start a confirmatory study for its flu shot this year funded by its agreement with Blackstone. — Lei Lei Wu
Summit Therapeutics’ $235M raise: After beating out Merck’s Keytruda in a landmark study in lung cancer, Summit Therapeutics got $79 million from inside investors, including co-CEOs Bob Duggan and Maky Zanganeh, and $156 million from multiple biopharma institutional investors. Earlier this summer, Summit similarly raised about $200 million after initially teasing the data ahead of ASCO’s annual meeting. — Kyle LaHucik
Oruka Therapeutics’ $200M PIPE: A week after closing a reverse merger for a spot on the Nasdaq, Oruka Therapeutics has reeled in more funds from a dozen or so industry investors for its I&I biologics pipeline. — Kyle LaHucik
Centessa tees up $150M offering: The proceeds are expected to help pay for further clinical development of the company’s narcolepsy drug after it showed promise in Phase 1. The orexin receptor 2 agonist did not display the same toxicity issues in the trial that have plagued other candidates. — Max Bayer
Takeda terminates Innate deal: The Tokyo pharma terminated its license agreement for Innate antibodies that could be used in antibody-drug conjugates less than two years after inking the deal. The French biotech is set to regain the rights next quarter. — Kyle LaHucik
Liquidia adds $100M: About two-thirds of the capital came from combining a private placement and an underwritten public offering, and $32.5 million stems from a revenue interest financing pact with HealthCare Royalty. — Max Bayer