Jnana Therapeutics and Roche have signed a second partnership and licence agreement to discover small-molecule drugs to treat cancer, immune-mediated and neurological ailments. The deal covers multiple targets from a varying range of target classes for addressing ailments with high unmet needs.

For discovering new small molecule drugs against various disease targets, Jnana will leverage its RAPID chemoproteomics platform. According to the partnership, Roche will make $50m in upfront payments to Jnana. Jnana is also entitled to receive substantial near-term milestone payments and additional potential payments of more than $2bn in the future, apart from tiered royalty payments.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has entered a collaboration and licensing agreement with CytomX Therapeutics for developing conditionally-activated bispecific cancer therapies. Under the deal, the companies will work together on the discovery activities for identifying and validating the conditionally active bispecific antibodies.

This collaboration will use Regeneron ’s Veloci-Bi bispecific antibody development platform and CytomX’s Probody therapeutic platform. It will focus on applying CytomX’s biologic masking strategies for developing the investigational Regeneron bispecific cancer therapies, which are activated by proteases in the tumour microenvironment. According to the agreement, CytomX will receive a $30m upfront payment and is eligible to receive up to $2bn in preclinical, clinical, and commercial milestones.

The UK Government has announced funds worth $24.17m (£20m) to conduct research for developing new obesity therapies and technologies. These therapies and digital tools have been demonstrated to aid people in shedding 20% of their weight. Every year, obesity costs a staggering $7.2bn (£6bn) to the UK National Health Service (NHS), and by 2050, the figure is expected to increase to more than $11.7bn (£9.7bn) per year.

To detect sites for this research, which will analyse how new and possibly transformative therapies can be merged with technologies such as digital tools to boost durable health outcomes in obese patients, an open competition will be run early next year. 

The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and HDT Bio  have received funding worth up to $87.4m in a project agreement from the US Government for developing self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vaccine technology against advanced and emergent viral threats.

The award is provided by Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) of the US Department of Defense (Dod ) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Medical CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC) Other Transaction Authority (OTA).

South African bio-pharmaceutical firm BIOVAC and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) in South Korea have signed a licencing and technology transfer agreement for developing and manufacturing an oral cholera vaccine (OCV).

The deal will aid Biovac in establishing drug substance manufacturing expertise for producing the antigen/raw material required to make the vaccines.

This collaboration with IVI will enable Biovac to licence and transfer technology to boost manufacturing volumes, which in turn cuts down the crucial shortage of cholera vaccines across the globe. The initial segment of the project is supported by $6.9m (R120m) funds from Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Liminatus Pharma has entered a definitive business combination agreement with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Iris Acquisition to create a business with a pro forma enterprise value of nearly $334m. 

The new entity is anticipated to receive up to $316m in gross cash proceeds. This includes $276m held in the trust account of Iris and equity private investment in public equity (PIPE) funding of $15m and convertible note financing worth $25m. A clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm, Liminatus focuses on the development of new therapies for cancer that utilises the immune system of the body to detect and fight cancer cells.