💊 Health Futures #35

Happy Monday 👋

This week’s health newsletter highlights major themes Drug Production, Health Devices, and Drug Discovery. In Drug production, Vir Biotechnology finalized a licensing deal with Sanofi to acquire three clinical-stage therapies aimed at treating cancer. Innovations continue to make strides in MedTech as THINK Surgical completed the first total knee arthroplasty procedure using its miniature Robotic System. In biotechnology,  Summit Therapeutics released positive results for its experimental cancer therapy compared to Keytruda. On the other hand, AstraZeneca’s lung cancer drug failed to show significant results as it didn’t improve the overall survival results of the patients. In health funding, Orlando Health acquired Sebastian River Medical Center and two other healthcare hospitals for $439M.

💊 Pharmaceuticals

🔬 Vir Biotechnology finalized a licensing deal with Sanofi. The agreement aims to grant three clinical-stage therapies to treat cancer, including access to Sanofi's platform designed to enhance the delivery and effectiveness of T-cell engagers in oncology and infectious disease treatments.

🦠 Hyundai Bioscience's Xafty shown promise as a broad-spectrum antiviral drug. The drug has proven effective against infections, including COVID-19, mpox, and dengue fever. The company is to supply the drug to countries facing a public health crisis.

💊 Novo Nordisk developed a new daily weight loss pill. The weight loss drug called Amycretin showed greater efficacy than its existing drug Wegovy in a clinical trial.

💻 Health Devices

💉 THINK Surgical completed the first total knee arthroplasty procedure. The surgical was completed using its new TMINI Miniature Robotic System version 1.1 empowered surgeons to tailor the implant to the patient's needs.

⌚ Neurode developed a wearable headband. The device can track and treat ADHD symptoms. The headband uses light electrical stimulation to balance the brain hence the device is currently seeking FDA approval.

🩺 Proprio's surgical platform, Paradigm completed 50 successful surgeries. The platform provides surgeons with real-time 3D anatomical mapping and is used in a variety of complex spinal surgeries.

🧪 Drug Discovery

🧫 Gilead Sciences partners with Genesis Therapeutics. This strategic collaboration is to discover and develop novel, small-molecule therapies across multiple targets.

🧬 Carisma Therapeutics and Moderna expanded their partnership.  Focusing on developing novel in-vivo macrophage engineering approaches for autoimmune diseases.

🩹 Summit Therapeutics released positive results for its experimental cancer therapy. Cancer therapy, ivonescimab showed superior efficacy compared to Keytruda in treating first-line lung cancer patients. However, AstraZeneca's experimental cancer drug did not significantly improve overall survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

💰 Deals of the Week

🏥 Orlando Health acquired Sebastian River Medical Center and two other Steward Health Care hospitals for $439M continuing to expand its healthcare services in Florida.

💊 Candid Therapeutics raised $370M in funding aiming to develop potentially transformative drugs to address autoimmune diseases.

🏣 PanTera secured $102M in Series A funding intending to allocate the funds to support the construction of a production facility in Belgium.

🧬 Superluminal Medicines closed a $120M Series A funding round. The funds will support the development of its lead drug discovery program and expand its focus on GPCR targets.

🔬 OrsoBio secured a $67M Series B funding. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of its mitochondrial protonophore portfolio for obesity and associated metabolic disorders.

Thank you for reading. Have a great week ahead!
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