Recent Funding:
cAMPfield Therapeutics has quietly secured $180 million in backing from a powerhouse group of investors including Novo Holdings, RA Capital, Frazier Life Sciences, and Venrock — following the increasingly popular model of building a company around drugs licensed from other biotech companies.
While the full pipeline hasn’t been publicly disclosed, early filings suggest cAMPfield may be developing a PDE4 inhibitor originally tested in psoriasis, COPD, and other inflammatory conditions in China, led by a CEO with a track record of two successful M&A exits.
M&A, Deals, Partnerships:
Edison Scientific (SF) Partners with Incyte to Deploy AI Across Drug Discovery and Development
Edison Scientific is embedding its AI platform Kosmos inside Incyte’s research and development workflows — training the AI on Incyte’s own experimental and clinical data so it continuously learns and improves, rather than simply analyzing existing information.
The deal reflects a growing industry trend of pharma companies treating their proprietary data as a strategic asset to power next-generation AI drug discovery, with Edison positioning Kosmos as a system that gets smarter with every experiment and clinical readout.
Genesis Molecular AI (SF) Expands AI Drug Discovery Partnership with Incyte in $120 Million Deal
Genesis Molecular AI, a biotech using AI to design novel drug molecules, has expanded its existing partnership with pharmaceutical company Incyte — receiving $120 million upfront to train its AI platform on Incyte’s proprietary experimental data across at least five new drug discovery programs, with over $1 billion in potential milestone payments.
The deal is notable as one of the first major pharma-AI collaborations to use a partner’s own internal research data to power large-scale AI model training — a strategy Genesis and Incyte believe will meaningfully accelerate the discovery of new medicines.
Engage Biologics (SF) Acquired by Eli Lilly for $202 Million
Engage Biologics, a preclinical company developing next-generation DNA delivery technology designed to be more potent, better tolerated, and re-dosable compared to existing gene therapy approaches, has been acquired by Eli Lilly for $202 million.
The deal continues Lilly’s aggressive acquisition spree this spring — which has also included a $3.2 billion in vivo CAR-T buyout and a $2.3 billion myelofibrosis deal — as the pharma giant deploys its GLP-1 profits to build out a dominant position in genetic medicine.
FDA Approvals:
Gilead Sciences (SF) Wins FDA Approval for First-Ever Hepatitis D Treatment in the US
Gilead’s Hepcludex has been approved by the FDA as the first-ever treatment for chronic hepatitis D in the US — a viral infection that can rapidly progress to liver damage, cancer, and organ failure — after a years-long delay stemming from manufacturing and distribution issues that blocked an earlier approval in 2022.
In the pivotal trial, roughly half of patients on the drug saw their virus drop to undetectable levels, compared to just 2% on placebo — a landmark result for a disease that has had no approved treatment options in the US until now.
Other Interesting News:
Mapp Biopharmaceutical (SD) Tapped by US Government to Supply Experimental Ebola Treatment
Mapp Biopharmaceutical has shipped doses of its experimental antibody therapy MBP134 to the federal government for potential use in high-risk individuals amid a worsening Ebola outbreak in central Africa — the first time the little-known biotech has been called upon since its experimental treatment was used during the 2014 epidemic.
MBP134 was originally developed for a different strain of Ebola but has shown promise in lab studies against the current outbreak’s strain, with any potential use to be coordinated through a multi-agency government response involving the FDA and Department of State.
Denali Therapeutics (SF) Suffers Setback as Parkinson’s Drug Fails Phase 2b Trial
Denali’s Parkinson’s drug BIIB122, developed in partnership with Biogen following a $400 million deal in 2020, failed to slow disease progression compared to placebo in a 650-patient mid-stage trial — prompting both companies to end development of the drug for the most common form of Parkinson’s disease.
Denali is pressing forward independently with a smaller trial in a genetic subpopulation of Parkinson’s patients, with results expected soon — leaving a narrow but still open path forward for the program.
