Radionetics, a San Diego company working on a novel cancer treatment, just signed a big partnership with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co.
A key part of this strategic partnership: Eli Lilly gained the exclusive right to acquire Radionetics for $1 billion after a certain period. For now, Radionetics has received $140 million in upfront cash to help build its pipeline.
Radiopharmaceuticals are used to diagnose and treat diseases through chemicals that contain radioactive elements. The San Diego-based company is developing a novel small molecule G protein coupled receptor to treat various solid tumors.
“We are fortunate to have entered into an agreement with Lilly given its global development capability, oncology expertise, and the radiopharmaceutical experience and capabilities Lilly is building following the acquisition of POINT Biopharma,” said Paul Grayson, CEO of Radionetics Oncology.
Big pharma has shown a keen interest in biotechs working in the realm of radiopharmaceuticals. Another local example is RayzeBio, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb for $4.1 billion in December, shortly after going public.
AI-driven biotechnology company lands $50 million
San Diego’s Iambic Therapeutics, a company using an artificial intelligence platform for drug discovery, landed a $50 million investment last month.
The company is using AI technology to create models of protein structures, which help inform its approach to drug discovery for diseases, including cancer. It will use the money to develop therapies for solid tumors that are resistant to treatment in diseases such as breast cancer.
The funding builds on a previous round in October, bringing the total Series B financing to $100 million. The funding round last fall included Nvidia, Ascenta Capital, Abingworth and others.
The latest fundraising was led by Mubadala Capital and Exor Ventures.
“Iambic is a true innovator, both in the demonstrated accuracy and speed of its state-of-the art AI drug discovery models, and its ability to rapidly advance candidates from discovery and into human studies,” said Ayman AlAbdallah, partner at Mubadala Capital.
With fundraising momentum, Avidity Biosciences nets $461M
San Diego-based Avidity Biosciences recently raised approximately $461 million in a public stock offering to back its pipeline of RNA therapeutics.
In its second round of fundraising in the last six months, Avidity has netted more than $850 million.
The local company is building up a pipeline of new RNA therapeutics called Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugates (AOCs). These treatments Avidity is advancing through clinical trials are aimed at two rare neuromuscular diseases, which currently have no approved treatments.
The overall goal of its approach to developing treatments is homing in on the genetic drivers of diseases.
Avidity, which was founded in 2012, was the first company to successfully deliver RNA into muscle using its AOC platform. It has three clinical stage programs in the works for rare neuromuscular diseases, including myotonic dystrophy type 1, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy and duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Illumina officially spins off Grail
Local gene-sequencing giant Illumina has officially spun off cancer test maker Grail, after years of regulatory battles undid the $7 billion acquisition deal.
As part of the spinoff, Illumina reported on June 27 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it would incur about $1.47 billion in a goodwill impairment charge during the second quarter of 2024. During that period, Illumina would also incur an impairment charge related to Grail’s research and development of $420 million.
“With the completion of the spinoff of GRAIL, we have achieved our goal of divesting GRAIL in a manner that allows its breakthrough technology to continue benefiting patients,” said Jacob Thaysen, CEO of Illumina, in the June 24 announcement. “GRAIL plays a critical role in the fight against cancer, and while the company is no longer part of Illumina, we remain confident in its future and will continue to support GRAIL with our sequencing technology, end-to-end workflows, and suite of services.”
The separation became official on June 24, at which time Grail became a separate entity on the public market. Illumina retained a 14.5 percent stake in Grail.