Plus, news about Anthos, Ascendis, Royalty Pharma, Semnur, Sonoma, Atara, Feldan, Indivior, Aelis Farma and Acepodia:
Vaxcyte launches $1B offering: The raise comes fresh off the company’s pneumococcal vaccine data that sent its stock $PCVX soaring on Tuesday. Vaxcyte selected VAX-31 to advance to a Phase 3 trial in mid-2025 over another vaccine, VAX-24. It can tack on an additional $150 million if all the options are exercised. — Max Gelman
Genentech to lay off 93 staffers: In another round of layoffs, Roche’s Genentech is cutting 93 roles at its South San Francisco site starting in October, according to a California WARN notice. The site houses over 40 buildings and includes scientific research, manufacturing and other business functions. Genentech said earlier this year that it has plans to cut around 400 workers and restructure its portfolio. — Anna Brown
Anthos Therapeutics suggests patients can stay on experimental anticoagulant before surgery: The company on Tuesday shared additional data from a clinical study of its once-monthly factor XI antibody treatment in people with atrial fibrillation, suggesting they do not need to interrupt treatment with abelacimab before elective procedures. In the study, people on the control arm received Xarelto and were allowed to stop taking it 24 to 48 hours prior to their procedure. Seven of 852 patients (0.8%) in the abelacimab arm had major procedure-related bleeds, compared to 6 of 428 (1.4%) in the Xarelto arm. — Lei Lei Wu
Ascendis snags $150M in new Royalty Pharma deal: Less than a month after snagging FDA approval for Yorvipath, Ascendis is selling off US royalties of the hypoparathyroidism drug. In exchange for paying $150 million upfront, Royalty Pharma gets 3% royalties on new US sales. The length of the payments is contingent on how quickly Royalty earns back its investment. — Max Bayer
Semnur hits Wall Street via SPAC: The company is merging with special acquisition company Denali Capital Acquisition Corp. in a $2.5 billion deal. Semnur is owned by Scilex Holding Company, which itself took the SPAC route to go public in 2022. — Max Bayer
Sonoma Biotherapeutics records $45M milestone: The payment from Regeneron stems from a deal inked in 2023 to develop and commercialize T cell therapies for inflammatory bowel disease and two other undisclosed indications. — Jaimy Lee
Atara Biotherapeutics seeks $36M: The company raised the money in a registered direct offering, getting funding from Redmile Group, EcoR1 Capital and Adiumentum Capital Management. An unnamed “large public biotechnology company” also participated in the offering. — Max Gelman
Feldan Therapeutics closes $21M Series B: The money will go toward completing a Phase 1/2a trial for the company’s non-invasive intralesional treatment for basal cell carcinoma, which is meant to be an alternative to surgery. Genesys Capital and Fonds de solidarité FTQ co-led the round. — Katherine Lewin
Indivior, Aelis Farma drug fails Phase 2b trial: A study investigating a treatment for patients with moderate-to-severe cannabis use disorder didn’t hit the primary or secondary endpoints. The primary endpoint was the proportion of participants who reduced their cannabis use to one day or less per week. Indivior said it will not exercise an exclusive option to license the global rights to the treatment. — Katherine Lewin
Acepodia inks Pfizer Ignite collab: The company is collaborating with Pfizer Ignite to advance its off-the-shelf cell therapies to treat autoimmune diseases. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Acepodia said it retained all rights to its lead program, ACE1831, and Pfizer Ignite “will provide strategic guidance and resources.” — Max Bayer